145 Hunger Games: The Phoenix
by prettypinkcheer5
Summary: This is a new generation of Hunger Games. This story focuses on Tatum Starlight from District 4. The Games have new rules this year, with twists and turns at every step. She has been trained for this, but once she gets thrown into the games can she win?
1. Tatum

**_Hi there! Thanks for taking time to read this- I haven't written in a while so bare with me. I don't own the Games (that's all Suzanne Collins) but I have made up my own characters. Please review!_**

"Tate, get back here!" I looked back, sneered, looked ahead then ran. There was no way I was going back, not in that house with that man and her. I picked up my pace to a fast run and headed for the only place worth going. I smiled and continued to run.

"Tate," He said, looking over his tanned, muscular shoulder. His white teeth were pulled into a smile. I meet his eyes with mine but keep going. I strip off my cardigan and shoes and dive right into the water. With each stroke of my arm and kick of my leg, I felt my body being pushed through the liquid. I felt my muscles work and when my lungs were screaming for air, I finally broke the surface. I took a deep breath and continued my swim. At my normal stopping point, I pushed through and kept going.

I got to the island and stumbled out to the small beach. I was out of breath because of the extra-long swim. Everyone always said that expression 'like a fish in water' was about me. I had always felt at home swimming, with the water all around me. I pulled my knees up to my chest and put my arms around them.

"Trouble at home, minnow?" I heard his voice a couple of minutes later. I opened my eyes to see him climbing onto the sand.

"You know I don't like being called that." I replied. Growing up, all the kids would play sharks and minnows in the pool or ocean. I was always the last minnow still 'alive' and everyone hated when I was a shark. He smirked at my response.

"That was a longer swim than usual; something's got to be wrong." He sat down in the sand next to me. He took off his shirt and started to ring it out.

"Okay, so you don't want to tell me about it." He said, twisting his shirt out over me to make me get even wetter. I got up, annoyed and walked away. I ventured into the jungle-like forest from the beach. I walked for a couple of minutes and found the cave I was looking for. I sat at the entrance of it.

I really hadn't meant to run off, away from him. If anything, he was the one person I actually wanted to talk to. While I was mentally kicking myself, debating if I should go back to get him, and trying to figure out the probability that he didn't just swim back, I heard him come through the clearing. I sighed, getting up.

"Gage, I'm sorry." I told him.

"Bad day, I get it." He replied. He had no resentment in his voice, but instead it was full of understanding. He ran his hand through his blonde hair. His green eyes looked at a tree, as if it were really that interesting. I walked over to him. Gage had rock hard abs from training and from hard labor at work. He had strong cheekbones, and a strong chin. His overall appearance with narrow, green eyes made him look like a Greek God and that was why women fell all over him. That and he's a descendent of our District's most favored male Victor, Finnick Odair. It doesn't matter that Finnick died in the Rebellion, women openly mourned him. Everyone in the 4 became heartbroken for Annie; crazy, pregnant and now a widow. Finnick was Gage's three-times-great-grandfather and from the pictures I've seen, they look pretty similar. I guess it's just in the Odair genes.

I kissed him. His lips crashed back into mine. Gage dropped his shirt on the ground to weave his fingers in my hair. I still couldn't believe after all this time, he still chose me. I smiled and kept kissing him. He tasted like the salt water we had just swam in. I could tell he was really into it, so I teased him by running off into the forest again. I heard his footsteps behind me and laughed. He caught up with me at the beach, where we laid tangled in legs and arms for hours.

Before the sun began to set, he wanted to make a fire. I caught us some muscles and we ate them over the fire. Almost no one came to this island, so we didn't need to be worried about anyone catching us. We on our beach, talking, kissing and sleeping on and off for hours. He's in a light sleep while I stare up at the stars. It's funny to think how they're the same everywhere. The stars I'm seeing can be viewed all over Panham. Gage begins toss around. I look over at him and seeing his eyebrows furred together, I know he's having another nightmare. I wonder if it's about mutts or other mutants this time.

I stroke his cheek, trying to wake him gently.

"Gage, it's just a dream. Come back to me." I tell him. I stroke his cheek again. His green eyes open in a panic and he swings towards the only thing near him, me. I jump back before he can make contact.

"It's just me." I tell him. It takes him a couple of seconds to realize he's not back in the Games.

"Tatum," He said, trying to calm himself down. "I'm sorry." He apologizes. I think it's silly that he's apologizing for something that he can't help and I've told him that, but he continues to do it. He's still lying down, so I lay on my stomach next to him. I rest my head on my arm and look at him.

"I came here tonight because of him." I admitted. "He thinks bossing all of us around while he's drunk beating our mother will hide the fact he's a monster. He knows what he's doing is wrong, that's why he tries to get us out of the house when he does it. Today, he threw his liquor bottles at me. And she's just so pathetic; she puts up with him and acts like we need him. I think she keeps telling herself that she loves him. If she stays with him much longer, I'm afraid he'll kill her." I told him the reason for running out of my house, running out on my family.

"The truth is, we don't need him. Moira, mom and I are all working so we don't need his income. Moira and I take care of Lela, Bianca, Violet, and Eliza when she's not home. So there, that's why I was so mad when we first got here." I sighed again and looked at him. Even in the firelight, I could see the golden ray around his iris stand out.

" This time it was a mutt but it was a killer Jabberjay. They had their heads on the Jabberjay bodies." He explained. He had won the 101th Hunger Games, just four years ago. We'd been acquaintances then, and he came back a superstar. I'd always find him hanging around the docks, but it looked like he was never going to go anywhere, so I invited him to the first of the small islands with me. We took the boat out to the first one and walked around it. This became routine for a while and then he started talking to me. He told me about the Games and the things he had to go through. Even though I watched everything on the television, it was different to hear it coming out of a victor.

He helped me train, and taught me things that he had learned in training. My family let me run off with him because who better to train their daughter than a victor himself? We became fast friends and in the midst of everything, we fell in love. Gage took on more kids to train, and hid our romance, even from them.

The Capitol took him away from me every year for the Games. Women threw themselves at him there, but I refuse to ask any questions. I knew the power the President possessed, and I couldn't afford for Gage to get hurt on account of me. When he was here in 4, he was mine and only mine. We had made up a cover of him having 'girlfriends' in other districts. I started to bite my thumbnail. He leaned in and kissed me. While rolled me over to my back I smiled, knowing he was mine, at least for another day. Then it hit me.

I gasped and pushed his chest for him to stop.

"Stop," I told him, sitting up.

"What's wrong?" He was confused. I jumped up and tried to find my shorts and shirt I had let dry in the sun earlier.

"Here," I grabbed his shorts and threw them at him. I put on my clothes.

"I forgot what tomorrow is. We have to go." I told him, starting to cover the fire with sand.

"Tomorrow… reaping." It hit him. He pulled up his shorts, but as we walked down to the water I saw the look in his eye.

"I have to get back to them." I said. He was speechless.

"It's going to be okay, it'll just be a couple of days and then you'll be here at home." I told him, smiling and kissing him.

"I left a boat here last time." He told me. We walked to where he had left it. As I climbed in, the look in his eyes was still there.

"It'll be a couple of days and then you'll come back to me." I said, holding him. He must have found that reassuring because he started the small fishing boat and we were on our way back across to land. On the way back, I let the sea water spray my face. I started to think about my family.

Moira was too old now to be reaped, so I could breathe easy about her. Even though we had both carried jobs, we had still needed to sign up for rations. My name was in there the most with five, Lela and Bianca (the twins) had two each and sweet, little Violet who had just turned twelve had to put her name in, Eliza was too young. I was ashamed to have her sign up but we really needed it. What would happen if I was chosen? I knew that it killed Gage a little inside that he couldn't help us, and he had tried every possible way, but unless we wanted our secret to get out, he couldn't. I looked at the moon, the rest of our trip back. He cut the engine and glided into the deserted dock. I went to the spot I had thrown my shoes and cardigan.

"Hey," He said, grabbing my hand. I stopped and looked at him.

"You're eighteen, you're name has only been in there a couple of times. Same with the girls. They won't pick any of you. If they do, you know some crazy idiot will volunteer anyways, like they always do." He told me, pulling me in for a hug.

"Remember we're District 4, a career district, people always volunteer." He told me. I nodded and let him go, not wanting to blow our cover.

"Your right," I told him. He walked me to my house, which wasn't odd considering it was on the way to the Victor's Village.

"I'll see you tomorrow, at the Reaping." He told me. I nodded my head.

"Sleep well Tatum."

"If you say so,"

"I do." He replied. I looked into his eyes that seemed to pierce my soul. I nodded my head and headed inside. The girls were getting the kitchen ready. Every year, the night before the Reaping, we had a giant feast.


	2. A Reaping Day Surprise

_**Happy New Years Eve! **_

_**You get to see the softer side of Tate in this chapter and how she acts with her family. This is not how she usually acts, this is her with her guards down. Things also start to take a turn in this chapter, I hope you enjoy. Please hit that little review button so I can tell at least someone is reading this. **_

"Where have you been Tate?" Bianca asked, her dark blonde hair in pigtails.

"I was training with Gage. You know, just in case one of you yahoos is picked tomorrow, I can volunteer." I told her, kissing the top of her head.

"You wouldn't really volunteer, would you?" Eliza asked, her eyes getting wide. Sweet, naïve, little Eliza, only eight years old. I envied her innocence sometimes.

"Only if one of my sisters would get called," I explained.

"But that's not going to happen." Moira added.

"Right!" I agreed. I helped finish decorating the table with food. Afterwards, mom came back from work and he finally woke up for food. We had established a long time ago to call truths over food, eating in front of the family. Naturally, we ignored one another.

Once dinner was over, mom washed the dishes while Moira and I got the girls ready for bed. I gave Eliza a bath and then brushed out her hair and put her to bed, while Moira was getting the Violet bathed. I told Eliza one of those fairy tales that I was told as a young girl. Her favorite was the one with a mermaid who wished she was a human. I thought it was silly, but considering where we lived, in a coasted land, and how happy it made little Eliza, I continued to tell it to her every other night. She fell asleep half way through the story, so I went to see how the twins were doing. They had just finished playing a game.

"Time for bed girls," I told them. They sighed and started to complain.

"You don't have school tomorrow." I told them, and then smiles came to their faces. We walked up the steps to their room.

"Don't stay up too late, tomorrow's the big day." I said sarcastically excited. Lela came up and hugged me.

"What's this?" I asked, usually she was the stronger one out of the twins.

"I don't want to go into the Games." She told me in the hallway.

"Sweetheart," I said stroking her head.

"Look at me Lela, you're name has been in there twice. The probability of your name being called is so small. Even if that happens, I'll volunteer for you. I'll never let any of you go in there, promise." I told her. Her brown eyes looked up at me.

"Tate, I don't want you to go in the Games either," She told me. I pulled her close to me and kissed her head.

"Sweet Lela," I said, with a sigh.

"Can I tell you a secret?" I asked her. It sounded like I was talking to Eliza and not my fifteen year old, teenage sister. She nodded her head.

"When Gage and I were done training, I told him I didn't want to get picked and leave all of you here. That I was actually a tiny bit scared. You know what he told me?" I asked her. She was in love with Gage, I mean he kind of like a God around here.

"What?" She asked, her eyes lighting up.

"He reminded me that we're a Career district. We have pride in our district here, and because of that, people always volunteer. So, there's a huge chance the escort isn't even going to make it to the bowl to draw a name." I let this sink in.

"You remember last year how both tributes volunteered?" I reminded her. She remembers then smiles.

"So see, you have nothing to worry about Lela." I reassured her. She hugged me and went into her room.

"You need anything B?" I asked peaking my head in.

"No, love you Tay,"

"Love you B. Love you Le."

"Love you Tay." I left their room and headed to my own. Moira was already in there, picking out outfits for tomorrow.

"Stayed out kind of late for a training session," She noted. I shot her a look.

"What? You think that Gage and I are secret lovers?" I asked sarcastically.

"Maybe," she implied.

"Oh yeah, you caught us." I said rolling my eyes. "First, Gage is a tribute. He's been training me for years. There's nothing going on. Even if he did like me like that, which would be really weird, why would he sneak off with poor Tatum Starlight, when he has all those rich girlfriends in other districts?" I asked her, really pouring on the acting skills.

"Did you know that one of the girls, in the Capitol actually dyed her hair so it looks like a rainbow? And she's had emeralds put into her ears. I don't mean earrings, I mean like in her actual ear!" I said, describing an actual girl that he had seen.

"Anyway, I'm going to bed. I'll leave the pining for Gage Odair to the twins. Sweet dreams Moira." I said, crawling into bed.

"Sleep tight Tatum." She told me. She worked for a couple of minutes then hit the lights and went to bed herself.

I awoke with a start. I shot up and instantly reached for the knife I had hidden in my nightstand. I stopped when I realized it was Violet.

"What are you doing out of bed?" I asked, trying to slow my heart rate down.

"I had a nightmare. I got picked and went to the Games."

"Vi, it's not going to happen. Come here." I told her. She climbed into bed with me. She held onto me so tightly I didn't bother moving her back to her room once she fell asleep. When I finally fell asleep again, that night my dreams were filled with Gage, images of past Games, and my family all in various situations. I woke up, overall confused. Violet was still clinging onto me.

"Violet, get up. I have to get ready." I told her, nudging her. She rubbed her eyes, sleepily.

"Go to your room, I'll be in to help get you ready a little later." I told her. She walked to her room. I got up to shower, quickly. I put on clothes and picked out my reaping outfit and set it on my bed. I asked Moira to do my hair. I always loved when my sister did my hair. She handed me a mirror.

"Mor, you've outdone yourself." I told her. She had done a mini braid across the back of my head, letting the rest of my hair fall straight.( /pin/186406872046328745/ ) It looked elegant and simple at the same time. I hugged her and then we started to help the girls get ready. We decided to do some variation of a braid on each of the girls. For some bizarre reason, everyone was told weeks ago to wear grey or white clothing to the reaping. We put the girls in their dresses or skirts and blouses. We got them ready and then it was my turn to get ready.

I put on the dress. Moira wore it last year for her last reaping. It was beautiful really- white, short sleeved, came down to just above my knees and it had this nice bow on it on the neckline and very flow-y. The sleeves actually made it look like a cape. It really made my tan from being outside so much, stick out. I slipped on the white-lacey flats and we went to the square for the big day. We ran into Gage.

"Hello ladies. You all look beautiful." He told my sisters. Bianca and Lela giggled and blushed.

"Gage," I said.

"Did you sleep last night?" He asked me. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Just remember what I told you Tate, I mean it." He said. I looked at him. He looked particularly handsome today, in his khakis and white button down. His hair was messy but still neat. His eyes were filled with sadness. I frowned. He indulged the girls as we continued our walk to the square. We had gotten so used to act around other people, nothing out of the ordinary happened. We got to the square.

"If any of you should get called, be strong, no tears, and I'll be up there for you." He told the girls. He gave them all hugs. When it came time for me, he held me close.

"You remember what I told you." I whispered to him, as we had to split up. I took a deep breath and we left one another. He headed for the stage and I headed for the eighteen year old girls group.

The mayor came out and delivered the same boring speech as he always had. I found each of my sisters in their groups and smiled at them. Then, I found Gage and watching him on stage. It really wasn't hard to see why so many girls and women lusted after him. I smiled knowing that deep down, he was mine. Whenever we had spent time together, just the two of us, time always seemed to fly by, nothing else in the world mattered.

My eyes got wide as a woman appeared on stage. She was the most ridiculous looking person I'd ever seen. Her hair was all in curls and literally the different colors of the rainbow. Each curl was a different color, one bright yellow, another green, another red and another purple. (/pin/107030928613719597/). Her skin was actually dyed a pink color. She had designs all over her face and skin. The irony had not been lost on me, that I was telling my sister just last night about a girl with rainbow colored hair.

"Hello beautiful people of District 4." She began. She was wearing a pale blue petticoat and corset. She had white leather boots on that came up under her skirt. I was still in shock about her appearance while she started talking.

"Happy Reaping Day! My name is Eloise Locket and I will be your escort for the Games. I have just received some new information from the Capitol and we have a bit of a change from the reapings from the past." This caught everyone's attention and people started to talk and turn to their neighbors. Eloise took out a piece of paper.

"Due to the overwhelming demand of volunteers in past Reaping Days and Hunger Games, we, the Capitol, have put in place a new rule for this year. We will not be accepting volunteers for this 145th Hunger Games. Everyone shall have a fair chance to represent their district in the Games this year." She announced. My eyes became wide, my heart felt like a jackhammer in my chest. Violet, Bianca, Lela. Their names had been in there five times. I stared at the neck of the girl in front of me. All I could think about were my sisters.

"With that being read, we shall get started, ladies first. May the odds be ever in your favor. Our female tribute for the 145th Hunger Games from District 4 is Tatum Starboune."

"Tate," Angela Lockhart told me. She was standing right next to me, we were classmates together. I looked at Angela.

"Tatum Starboune," Eloise said again on stage. She had called my name.


	3. Goodbyes and Author's Note

_**Happy New Year everyone! Here's another update. I hope someone, anyone is reading this- if so please review. Think of reviews as fuel to keep this writing going. **_

_**I've written a couple chapters ahead of what I'm posting so I actually need some of YOUR help. I need a couple of other victors, there are a set few that I already have in mind. If you want to submit a tribute that'd be fantastic! Give me basics- name, age, district, physical description, personality, token, anything else you want me to know. Thanks! **_

I forced myself to move. My name was called. Not any of my sisters, mine. That was probably the last thing that I had expected to happen. I put on a brave face, and marched up on stage.

"How old are you dear?" The rainbow-hued woman asked.

"Eighteen." I replied.

I found my sisters in the crowd, Violet was crying, and twins were shocked. I couldn't look at them, they would make me cry. I looked at Eloise. She had called me. I was reaped. I was going into the Games. This was real. I looked at Gage, I could tell even he was shocked. I remembered something Gage told me years ago. I was now on display for everyone, I needed to get sponsors and win people over.

"I'm honored to represent our wonderful District 4 in this year's Hunger Games." I stated, flashing a smile. Kill them with charm.

"That's lovely Tatum,"

"Please, call me Tate." I told her. She smiled, obviously pleased at my response.

"And our male tribute from District 4 is Bryson Fireside." Eloise continued. The name sounded vaguely familiar. A dark blonde, shaggy haired teenager stepped forward. He had a cocky smile and strutted to stage, he looked ready for these Games. I had a feeling that I had known him, but couldn't place it. The mayor came back and read another boring speech. Half way through, I glanced at Gage.

"Smile," He mouthed to me. I put on my best charming smile and glanced out towards the crowd again. We were being filmed, I couldn't forget that. For years I had watched names get called, boys and girls led on stage, some said there cocky and proud while others wept. You pity them, your hope is in them, they are your chance for our district to get recognized. I never thought I'd be up here. I see the looks of pity and the looks of pride in the people in my district. While I heard a voice, I didn't listen to what it was saying. Time both sped up and slowed down at the same time.

My thoughts instantly went to my family. My mother was a fool to stay with Tax, he was nothing but abusive and a bully. Maybe I can make her see it by going into the arena. If that's what it takes, that's pitiful. Moira would have to take care of mom and our sisters. If I didn't come back, would they be able to survive on her and mom's wages? Moira and I had shared almost everything with each other. We were best friends, I would miss her so much during the Games. The twins, Lela and Bianca. I would miss their bickering back and forth with one another. They were just getting to the fun stage of their lives. I loved when they came home from school talking about their new boyfriends or boys they had crushes on. Violet always took her cues from the twins, so she was just starting to get into that boy crazy-state. Then there was Eliza. She broke my heart, I would have to say a quick goodbye to her. I thought about how I would say goodbye to each of them, just in case I wouldn't come back.

Before I knew it, we were being whisked off to the District Towne Hall. I was shuffled into a room, where I knew my family would come meet me. I saw Tax and my mother start in.

"Stop." I commanded.

"You, you are not my family. You are not welcome in here." I told Tax.

"Ungrateful brat."

"Escort him out, now." I told the Peacekeepers. The one guard in white shuffled him out. I saw Moira, on the other side of the door as he passed them.

"Can you have them wait out there for just a minute?" I asked the other Peacekeeper, with a smile.

"Tatum, I did not raise you to be so disrespectful." My mother spoke up.

"I haven't seen the woman that raised me in years. She's been too busy cowering behind that disgusting man. You've let him hit you. Dad would be so ashamed of you. I know you think you love Tax, but is he more important than you children?" I asked her. I needed to make her see.

"Mom, I love you, but you've been putting him before us, since you started seeing him. We're your daughters. I'm sick of watching you do it. I'll make you a deal. You can be with him when I go into the Games, but when I come back, _if_ I come back, he leaves. No if, ands, or buts."

"That's so selfish of you Tatum. He does care for you girls. He means well." She said.

"No, it's not, it's selfish of you. Here you have your daughter who could _die_ in these Games and you're sitting here defending a grown man who hits you." She threw her arms up in the air. Tears came to my eyes.

"You should be consoling me, giving me advice, telling me you love me, mom. I might not come back!" I yelled at her.

"You'll do fine, you're smart and you are like your father, Tatum." She said, as she started heading for the door. I felt crushed. What happened to the mother I knew as a child who when I fell or got cut, and babied me? This was a shell of a woman.

"I meant what I said. When and if I come back he's gone!" I screamed. She slammed the door. I was choking back sobs. There was a knock and the door opened. I glanced over my shoulder and saw it was Moira.

"Just a second, Mor," I told her, trying to stop the tears.

"Tate, it's just me." She said.

"I heard yelling and mom slammed that door pretty hard." She explained. I turned to face her. She wrapped her arms around me.

"I love you my sister." I told her.

"I love you my sister," She repeated back to me.

"I don't want to cry in front of all of them. I need to be strong for them." I told her, as we hugged. She agreed.

"I'm coming home. I promise. I pinky-sister-promise." I told her. We'd always done that for things we never broke promises on. I'd never told mom when she used to sneak out and she never told on me when she caught Billy Redding kissing me behind school. I had stopped crying.

"Just in case I don't, take care of our sisters." I told her.

"Don't talk like that. You pinky-sister-promised." She told me. We broke apart. She went to the door and let them in. The four of them came running in and almost tackled me. I closed my eyes and tried to capture this moment in my memory to hold onto. I wasn't sure if I'd get this again. The two youngest were crying and the twins clung onto me desperately.

"Girls, what did we say about being brave and strong?" Moira asked. I shared my best advice with the each of the girls. I knew my time was running out.

"Take care of each other while I'm gone." I told them as the Peacekeeper start to shuffle them towards the door.

"Wait, Tate, here. Take this." Moira ran over to me. She reached behind her neck. She took off her gold locket. On the front was a beautiful inlaid pearl and gold design on it. On the back was all of our initials: MTBLVE. She put it around my neck and hugged me one last time.

"Love you Tate."

"Love you Mor, remember I pinky-sister-promise." I told her, letting her go. She left the room. I needed a moment to collect myself. I had to morph myself back into the confident tribute that would get me sponsors.


	4. First Impressions on a Train

_**Okay, here is the next chapter! You can start to see a little bit of a change in Tate, and you get to meet some of the tributes that she'll have to face. **__**MissFiyeraba **__**I Hope you like this chapter! *Don't forget to hit that little review button***_

The Peacekeepers opened the door of the elaborate Towne Hall room again. One grabs me by my arm.

"You don't have to grab me, I already have to go." I shot back at him. I could almost hear him growl at my response, I didn't care. I was already leaving everything I knew, my home, my family, my friends; I was not about to be manhandled by Peacekeepers. I was thrown together with Bryson again. His eyes were a little puffy, but he appeared collected.

We were shuffled into cars and taken to the train that would transport us to the Capitol and Training Center. Watching my district go by, I felt myself letting go of my family. I had to, in order to save them and to save myself. I had never seen a train before. It was long, sleek and very polished.

"Bryson, this is your room here on the left. And Tatum this is yours here on the right. Help yourselves to anything in your cabins; everything belongs to you in them. You have an hour before we have a meeting to discuss everything and meet your mentors and trainers." Eloise told her. My room was down the hallways. I sat there in my cabin, watching out the window as the ocean and the rivers slip away. I felt like I was losing a little bit of myself. I closed my eyes for a second. Bryson and I were called for a meeting.

I met Eloise out in the hall. Bryson had changed into a pair of brown pants and a black long sleeved shirt, whereas I was still in my dress from the reaping. It was a piece of home and I wanted to hold onto it for as long as I could. I saw Gage enter the hallway behind us. I crept back so I could talk to him. This is the first time that we were in close proximities since my name was called.

"Tate, I think that-"

"I don't want you to be my mentor." I blurted out, cutting him off.

"I want you to train me still but, I just don't think I can do it, if you're my mentor." I explained.

"And had you let me finish, I was suggesting someone else be your mentor."

"Oh, good. Glad we're on the same page." I was surprised but pleased.

Our eccentric guide showed us to a room with a set of tables. Food was laid out everywhere and the room was basically packed with people: Avoxs, past victors, trainers, and other random people from the Capitol. I was pushed into sitting between Eloise and an older victor, whose name I had forgotten. Bryson sat across from me.

"So, let's start off. What are your skills? What weapons are you trained to use?" Eloise asked. It seemed so wrong those questions coming from something the Capitol had made and dolled up.

"I'm good with tridents. I can make really good traps with nets, spears, hooks." Bryson stated.

"Very good. And what about you, Tate?"

"She's deadly with a trident." Gage spilled. I looked at him, eyes wide with rage. Everyone in our district knew how to handle a trident, hello we're water people. Having him expose my best skill I had an urge to punch him. Eloise looked at Gage, confused.

"Gage trained me a couple times." I said, brushing it off.

"Oh, so you're her trainer?" She asked, with an excited smile.

"I wouldn't call it that. He really trains my sisters, the twins, Bianca and Lela. They have the biggest crush on him, it's adorable really. They've let me train with them a couple of times, that's all." I made up the lie. I guess it was sufficient enough because no one asked for any more detail. I can't have Gage mess this up for me. I'm already going to have a target on my back; I don't need all of them placed there.

"What other skills are you good with?" the question seemed a bit twisted but I kept going.

"I'm a strong swimmer. Gage pointed out I'm good with a trident, but really, who isn't in 4?" I said, jokingly. I could see the Capitol cronies were hitting up this charm oozing out of me.

"I'm good with rope, and I think I'm pretty good with knives." I concluded.

"Great! You both have good skills." Eloise said, clapping her hands together. Bryson and I stared at each other over her weird outburst. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Since we are closer than others to the Capitol, it won't take us as long as other Districts to get there. We'll only be on this train for a little bit. Then, we will arrive at the Training Center. You will meet your prep teams, get beautified, and start training, interviews and then the Games. How exciting this all must be for the two of you." Eloise said, obviously excited. There was an orange colored curl shaking from her head. I really had to suppress the urge to rip it out of her head. 'Save it for the Games' I told myself.

Food was brought out on plates. It looked and smelled amazing. Once it hit my lips, it tasted even better. Even though I wasn't hungry, I knew I had to put on a little weight. There are no guarantees in the Games. As much as the Careers are usually allied, they may see me as some kind of threat and I would need to flee. I ate everything on my plate, all four courses, and felt like throwing up afterwards.

"Bryson, I'm going to be your Mentor. I'm Cordelia." Said a red-head. She was in her late thirties but she had fierceness about her that no one could mistake. She had won the games eighteen years ago. If she was going to be anyone's mentor I wanted her to be mine. I was jealous and I was trying to hide it.

"Tate, I'm going to be your mentor." He said. It was the guy next to me. His long, blackhair was overgrown, but he seemed like he was in shape, but I wasn't sure. I don't remember his name, I don't even remember how long ago he had won his games. He honestly, didn't look like much. He wasn't cocky or a Capitol pet like Gage, and he didn't have that fire behind his eyes like Cordelia. I wasn't sure how I felt about him.

"I'm Damien." He said. I shook his hand.

"Tate, your great-grandfather was in the Games." Eloise said, surprised.

"Um, yes." I said.

"And he won, how perfect!"

"I don't really see how that affects me." I said slightly confused.

"You come from a family of Victors!" She said, squealing again. Crap, I was never going to get the target off my back thanks to this team.

"I never met him. He died before I was born." I told them.

"Pity," Someone else replied. They chatted on about absurd things and I tuned them out. I could feel a pair of eyes on me. I thought it was Gage's but when I looked up, I saw Damien studying me. Eloise took us to another area where we watched the footage of the other reapings that had gone on today we started with 12 and went backwards.

District 12 there was a tiny girl, who looked like the wind may blow her over. Unless she had a hidden set of skills, there was no way she would make it past the bloodbath. I wanted to stop myself from thinking these things but I was now a part of this Game, I had to think like this if I want to come back home. The boy from 12 had probably spent years in a coal mine already. He looked like he had been scrubbed clean but I guessed coal dust wasn't that easy to just wipe away.

District 11, two malnourished teens were picked. I've never seen kids that looked so fragile before.

"It seems a little odd to me, that seeing as how they are from a district that focuses on agriculture, they don't seem fed at all." I noted, to no one in particular. Damien seemed surprised by my words. Gage kept his eyes focused on the television screen.

"They must come from poor families." Eloise said.

The boy from 10 was a complete shock. He looked like he should be from 2 or 3. He was unusually tall and muscular. Watching him on stage, I knew he was a force to be reckoned with, he wasn't just a physical threat, but he seemed smart as well. His name was Fury, how fitting. Everyone looked so pleased when his name had been called. He was probably their best shot to not go hungry for a year. The girl was a redhead and seemed in total shock her name had been called. I completely understand, sweetheart.

No one really stood out to me until District 6. The girl, I think her name was Tulip or some other flower name. She had wild eyes, it looked like she was putting on an act but her eyes revealed that she was already playing the game. I knew those eyes because I was doing the same thing. I took a mental note of her. 6 is known for being morphling addicts, everyone immediately wrote them off, but I wanted to keep my eye on this flower girl.

The two from 5 seemed surprised to be called. But the brown, curly-haired boy seemed so excited to be called. He actually tripped up the stairs. Everyone laughed at him. Could he be playing dumb, trying to undermine us all?

Next, we got to our district. I'm surprised my mouth wasn't hanging open, in shock from the announcement that had been read.

"It's like you didn't even hear me, Tate." Eloise said.

"I didn't. That's Angela, we were in school together. She had to tell me that you were calling my name." I told her. You see the blank stare rush off my face and instead it is filled with something else. I could see myself calculating the risks and trying to figure out how I should act.

"Dear, you look beautiful. That dress was perfect for you." Eloise said.

"It's my sister's." Eloise confirmed what I thought. I looked like a pretty girl; the dress downplayed the muscles in my arms and legs. Even when I went to the stage, I appeared almost grateful to be chosen. I bated my eyelashes and smiled. Good, maybe I won't seem like a huge threat. Bryson was called next. He came sauntering up the steps, powerful.

"The two of you look fabulous together. You'll have no trouble getting sponsors." She said.

District 3 was up next. The two called seemed wildly intelligent. The boy was around my age, he had very short blonde hair. The girl had piercing blue eyes and a ribbon holding her black hair back. I think the girl was acting more intelligent than what she really is. I saw their tiny, delicate fingers. There was no way they had ever welded a weapon before. You can't count them out though, most people from 3 are some type of engineering geniuses.

The two pairs from 2 and 1 were something else altogether. Everyone knows that 2 is favored by the Capitol. The boy's name was Leo. I was surprised that he wasn't as big as previous male tributes from 2. He was really muscular but not the same as the guy from 10 or even 1. Something was behind his eyes, like he had a secret. It was intriguing, and I'm sure that is exactly what possible sponsors thought as well. The girl from his district was strong, obviously well fed. She had her game-face on. Her name was Onyx, like the stone. Her hair had been died black with little flickers of color thrown in. I rolled my eyes.

Next, came the pair from 1. The boy from there must have been six feet tall, all muscle. He was made for this. I knew from the moment I saw the girl, when she stepped out of the crowd was going to be a pain in the ass. She had tinsel or something shiny in her hair that made it shimmer. She had a real anger behind her eyes. Glitter and Gunner. Seriously? Those were their names? I shook my head.

"That's all we have for tonight, it's been a big day. Both of you should get some rest." Eloise told us before scampering off. Bryson and I were left there with our mentors. Cordelia shuffled him off, probably to see what he could do in the training room. Even though we weren't allowed to 'train' 4 had always had a car to train on, we wanted our victors, at least one of them to come home. That's what Gage had told me. Whoever decided to be his trainers followed them out. There was silence. The people from the Capitol drank more and eventually went away.


	5. Strategy and Training

_**This is where you get to see a different side of Tate. You'll see what I mean. MissFiyeraba- enjoy! **_

"Why didn't you want them to know about your training?"

"Or your grandfather?" Both Damien and Gage asked me once the three of us were alone in the room.

"This is my game to play, not yours. Both of you went out there, showcasing how powerful and what a threat you are. When two powerful guys are presented, it's shown as strong, something you don't want to mess with. It's different for females. If you show two powerful women, they are a threat; something that you have to get rid of." I told them. I let it sink in.

"I don't want my strengths to be played up so much. I want to come off as a pretty girl that happens to be good with some weapons. I want the Careers to see me as valuable, so they keep be around but not a threat that they have to get rid of." I said in a hushed voice. Gage smirked. Damien raised his eyebrows.

"If she's as good as you say she is, we may have another victor." He told Gage. The two of them could see how calculating I really was. We talked strategy for a while and Damien decided he wanted to see what I could do. They led me to the training car. Things had been moved around and it was obvious that Bryson had been in here. What was bothering me about him? I let it go.

Once the door shut, I audibly awed at the weapons in the room.

"That bit before, about using tridents, are you that good with them?"

"I am deadly with them. Give me a trident; I can do anything with it." I replied. He tossed me one and I instantly launched it at the door.

"Stop trying to spy, it's rude!" I yelled. Gage opened the door, to find one of the Capitol's mignon's on the train with flaming red hair, against the other side of the wall, terrified. Gage took the trident off the door and smirked, closing it behind him and locking it.

"Good listening skills, that's a plus." Damien said.

"You said you were alright with knives?" He asked.

"My specialty actually. I can gut any type of fish in thirty seconds. I can use them in a hand-to-hand fight and I'm good at throwing them a distance." I told him. He handed me a set of knives.

"Hit that same mark the middle spear in the trident made." He instructed me. I eyed it for a second and hit it, dead on. Just to prove my point, I hit where the other two points had been made by the trident.

"Okay, I get the point. What about hand-to-hand combat?" He asked. Gage smiled an evil smirk.

"Are we really going to do this?" I asked, stretching my arms above my head. I was actually getting tired.

"I need to see everything that you're capable of so that I can help you." Damien said. Gage charged at me while I was still stretching. I was annoyed. He had picked me up by my waist. I slid over his shoulder and with my body weight grabbed him and brought him down on top of me. I punched him and rolled on top of him. I had sat up too far and his legs grabbed me around my neck and threw me back to the floor. He was cutting off my air supply. I kicked my leg into his chest, causing him to lose air. He swung to try to pull my legs out from under me, but I jumped away. He rushed at me again, and this time I ran towards him. I did an aerial over him as he dove for me, in the process smacking the back of his head, not wanting to actually harm him. I looked back at Gage and saw him getting up.

I rope was pulled around my throat from behind me. My first reaction was to panic but I knew I couldn't. Damien had in fact, surprised me. I grabbed his hands and lifted up my feet, leaning all my weight back onto him. For a few seconds he held out, my breathing becoming tighter. Then, fell. I rolled over and my hands were around his head, ready to snap his neck. I was not pleased by Damien's attack and was fired up.

"Not bad." Damien said.

"You trained her well, Gage." He stated. Gage pulled me up. This guy was supposed to be my mentor and he attacks me within hours of meeting me? This was going to be a bumpy ride. I elbowed Gage in the nose and pushed him off of me. I went back after Damien.

He threw me head over heels and flipped on me. I pushed myself up and we started to fight. I blocked his blows, and he kept blocking mine. I caught his fist and decided to switch it up and head-bunted him. I kicked him backwards and he landed on the door. He grabbed a knife and threw it in my direction. I ducked and it landed where in between my eyes would be. Gage was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Damien ran at me and pinned me to the mat. No matter how I tried to get him off, I couldn't. His arm was at my neck, pressing down on my windpipe. He had a knife pressed to my artery.

"Congratulations, you die in the 74th Hunger Games Tatum." He says in a mean voice. I let my head hit the floor and try to catch my breath. Damien rolled off of me.

"For the record, you're supposed to keep me alive, not try to kill me." I said, as he helped me up.

"I know more about your weaknesses now than you could ever tell me." He stated.

"Go rest. I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast." Damien stated, leaving the room. I sighed. Tomorrow was going to be a really long day. I felt my collarbone, Damien definitely left a bruise. Gage! I remembered. I twirled around to see him, still leaning against the wall. He was tending to his nose.

"Shit," I said. There was blood on his shirt.

"It's not broken, don't worry."

"I'm sorry Gage." I told him.

"It's fine." He said, he headed towards the door.

"Gage, I said I'm sorry."

"Tate, I'm fine." He said.

"Gage, talk to me." I told him as we went out to the hallway.

"Please," I added in a quiet voice. I opened the door to my room, I let it open. I went to sit on the bed. Wow, it was comfortable. Gage came in a few minutes later and shut the door.

"I said I'm sorry." I told him, meaning it.

"You may have actually put a scratch on my nose." He said.

"Please, nothing can make that face less any less charming." I told him. He came to sit next to me in bed.

"Smart strategy you have there, minnow. Sorry I almost blew it for you." He admitted.

"Would you just lay with me until I fall asleep?" I asked him.

"Anything for you minnow," I rolled my eyes, as I lay down.

"Okay there, shark." I replied, as he lay next to me. He hated shark about as much as I hated minnow. I turned to face him. He still looked handsome, even with dried blood on him. It was a gift. I'm pretty sure he could be rolled in mud and still look amazing.

"I'm scared." I confided in him. He kissed my cheek and held me.

"We're going to do everything we can to make sure you win. I need you to come back." He sounded so scared. We stared into each other's eyes. At some point I fell asleep.


	6. Training on a Train

_**Thank you for the reviews, I am so glad you are enjoying this story! **__**thegirlwiththebraid- good catch, that's embarrassing. MissFiyeraba if you thought last chapter showed off her skills, wait until you read this one. I had a little bit of trouble writing this chapter, so please forgive any errors. Let me know what you think by hitting that lovely little review button!**_

That night, I didn't have a single dream. I woke up to someone knocking at my door.

"Tatum, breakfast in ten minutes," Eloise's voice rang.

"Okay," I called back. I smiled, remembering falling asleep with Gage's arms, holding me close. I put my arm down gently. Gage's chest should have been there. I grope the sheets for a couple seconds then actually open my eyes. My bed occupied only me. I frowned; he was gone. I crawled out of bed, not bothering to make it. I called for an Avox. A couple of minutes later, a pale blonde girl with grey eyes showed up.

"I hope you don't mind that I called for you." I told her. She shook her head, seemingly scared.

"Please, don't be afraid of me. I don't want to get you in trouble." I told her, trying to comfort her.

"I know how they treat you, so I figured I could try and give someone a break. Do you like clothes?" I asked her. Her grey eyes lit up and she nodded her head.

"Would you like to help me pick what to wear today?" Her eyes went wide, I could tell she was excited.

"You can pick it out, I trust you." I told her. I undid the hair that my sister had braided to delicately. It only took her a minute. There was a knock at the door.

"Just a minute," I replied. The Avox girl threw the clothes at me and then, grabbed all the sheets off my bed. I watched her confused. The knock came again, this time the door opened. Eloise picked her colorful head in.

"Tate, breakfast is being served. What is going on in here?" She asked, curious.

"I um, it's a little embarrassing actually." The Avox started to grab the sheets. Eloise looked confused.

"I had a bit of a leak last night." It took Eloise a minute before figuring it out.

"We're all ladies here. These things do happen." She said consolingly. Idiot.

"I'll leave you to dress, but breakfast is being served." She said before leaving.

"Thank you," I told the girl, sincerely. She nodded her head and took the sheets out of the room. I got dressed quickly, brushed my hair and went to meet everyone else. The girl had picked out a pair of tan pants, and a flow-y white blouse. I actually liked what she had picked. It was comfortable and still made me look girly. I put on a white tank top under the shirt, then, went to the food car.

"Sorry to be late," I said walking in. They hadn't waited, even a second for me, to start eating the food. Some of the Capitol people were wearing sunglasses, clearly nursing hangovers. I rolled my eyes at them. Eloise looked at me with sympathetic eyes. She was really getting annoying.

"We're going to train, so don't eat too much." Damien told me. I wanted to protest, to tell him that the food was so good. In the end, he was right, I couldn't move fast and train the way I wanted to if I was slowed down from being too full.

I saw a little bit of puffiness under Bryson's eyes. He had been crying last night. I told myself that I should make an attempt to get to know this kid. I studied him while I ate a roll. His eyes! That what was so familiar about him! But how did I know his eyes? What was his last name? Fireside.

"I went to school with your brother!" I announced. Everyone looked up at me like I was crazy.

"I couldn't figure it out before, but I went to school with Brillow, we were in the same class." I told him, smiling. His brows knitted together but, he wasn't confused.

"Why are you bringing up my brother? We're going to compete against each other. You being nice to me doesn't change anything Tate." He told me. I sat up straighter; I gripped my spoon hard to keep from slapping him. Everyone had gone silent. I put my head down to keep the others from seeing how angry and upset this had made me. I shouldn't really be angry with him, he was right. I took a deep breath.

Eloise gave us the run-down of what was going to happen today. We each had time to ourselves until dinner time. Bryson and I had both finished our breakfasts at the same time. Our teams left us no spare time but demanded we both follow them, down the same hallway.

My crew was heading in the training room, Bryson somewhere else on the train. I grabbed Bryson and shoved him against one of the wooden hallway panels. He was surprised but didn't react, and I covered his mouth, letting both of our teams go away.

"Listen kid," I said uncovering my hand from his mouth.

"We are going to be fighting for our lives, you are absolutely right. However, the two of us very well may be the last person we ever see from our district. You're always going to be from there and so am I, don't you get that? It's not much, but we're from home. If that doesn't mean anything to you, then fine," I let him go. It hit him. As much as I tried to let go of the district and my family, he was from home. I couldn't let go completely, because he was going into the arena with me.

I walked away from him and went into the training room. I stretched for a moment. We warmed up throwing knives. Damien wanted to see what else I could do with a trident. With a thread, I made a net by threading it through the spears. I made a snare. I think he was impressed.

Next, he decided I should learn how to use a sword, that was what the other Careers were expected to know how to use. I was taught how to hold it and defensive blocking. It almost had the same feeling of a trident, but one, singularly blade to it. It took me a while before I finally realized I could in fact use the sides of the sword as a weapon, which was new for me.

We got a couple of dummies lined up and they let me go to down on them, with anything I chose. It must have fiddled with the sword for two hours. I took off the white blouse so I was in the tank top I had put on.

"Here, put this on." Damien said throwing something at me. I caught it, it was just a piece of fabric. I was confused.

"Where exactly am I putting this?"

"Over your eyes, we're going to try something different. Go to the center of the room." He told me. He wanted me to use it as a blindfold. Something told me I would not like this. I put the black cloth over my eyes and tied it so it would stay on. Everything became still.

"Where is Gage?" Damien asked.

"I," I stopped myself. I really wanted to ask how the hell was I supposed to know but I didn't feel like fighting. I did want to fight, but I was relatively sure that Damien would throw something heavy and/or sharp at my head. I had good hearing skills but with nothing making a sound, how was I supposed to pick him out? I heard the wooden floor shifting. I shifted myself about forty-five degrees to my right and pointed my right arm to where I thought he was.

"There," I stated.

"You are pointing to me." Damien said. I took off my blindfold. I looked around the room. Gage was nowhere to be seen. Damien laughed.

"You are such an ass." I said hitting him. Gage walked back in the room laughing.

"How is this helping me?" I demanded. I locked the door so they couldn't do this again. I put on the blindfold and we tried this for at least forty minutes.

"Where is Gage?" Damien asked me. While I was still in the middle of the room, they would each move around at the same time to throw me off. I turned around and slapped his cheek, playfully.

"Right there," I said, smiling.

"You think you're cute?"

"I know I am." I replied. I was still standing in the middle of the room.

"Tate, spin until I say stop," Damien instructed. I spun four times when he told me to stop. I wasn't dizzy, but it was slightly disorienting. I heard Damien clear his throat. I heard footsteps from my right side. I was tackled onto the floor. I threw off my blindfold.

"What the hell are you doing?" I screamed at my mentor. He shrugged his shoulders, which only infuriated me more. That was it, I charged for him. He smirked while Gage had to grab me off him.

"Do it again." Damien stated. "We're working on strengthening your sensory awareness. This may save your life in the Games, Tate." He added. Okay, he had a point. Evil, Damien.

"Gage, you go." Damien said, while he tied on the blindfold on me. I couldn't hide my distain for my mentor right now. Gage's tackle had locked my left shoulder up. I tried to stretch it. He marched me into what was close to the center of the room.

"Go."

I heard Gage's footsteps, coming straight at me. I moved so I was out of his direct line.

"Get her." Damien stated. I could hear his foot shift so he was trying to come after me. I pushed him down.

"Stop, stop." Damien said.

"Gage, you aren't helping her by half-assing this. You need to go all out so she can get a feeling of what she'll face out there. Tatum, I'm not doing this to be cruel, although it is amusing to see you so flustered, I'm doing this to help you." He said. I got off the floor. We did this for a while, Damien added another trainer into this drill and then he added fighting once they came after me. The last charge, someone grabbed me from behind but because they had forward momentum I crouched forwards and flipped them. The next attacker grabbed me from my side and threw me into the wall. I fell down after I hit it. I had landed with my left shoulder into the wall. I knew it was definitely jammed now.

"Ow," I said. I heard one of them near me. I was still on the floor. I did a sweep with my leg and someone fell. I stood up, reaching for the blindfold on my eyes. One of them grabbed me from behind, so I couldn't throw an elbow. Apparently throwing elbows was something I did, a lot. I tried to throw my head back to head-bunt the person, but couldn't make contact. I tried to throw my weight background but it didn't work. I was tired, and hurt, and irritable.

"Come on Tate!" Damien screamed, not cheering for me but yelling at me. This was a guy. I swung my leg behind me as hard as I could. His grip loosened up and he gasped air. I shifted my weight and shoved down on him. We both fell onto the floor, where I purposely fell on top of him.

"Okay. I think we're done." Damien said. I pulled off my blindfold with my right hand and rolled off the person, which was my other trainer, Raven. He was holding his groin.

"Sorry," I told him, as Gage helped me up. I held my left shoulder.

"It's jammed." I told the guys, I moved my arm and they exchanged looks.

"Give me your arm." Damien said; I reluctantly did. Before I could ask him why, he yanked my arm as hard as he could towards him. This caused a pop in my shoulder. The pressure seemed to ease but it still felt sore.

"Better?"

"Still sore,"

"It will be. We're done. Let's go get lunch." Damien said. Stupid, evil, Damien.


	7. Last Comfort

_**AN: I know it's been a long time since my last update. So sorry about that, but I have a couple of things going that are making my life a little crazy right now. This chapter actually took me a long time to write and then edit, it had to be perfect. Tate really is saying goodbye to everything and everyone she knows and I wanted to really convey that in this chapter. As a writer, I like listening to music while I write. While working on this chapter I kept going back and forth between Taylor Swift and the Civil Wars "Safe and Sound" (go figure) and Lady Antebellum "Just a Kiss". I'm currently working on what's going to happen in the Games, and you will see a different side to her. Please review, tell me you like it, tell me you hate it, anything! Enjoy. **_

-Last Comfort-

We walked away from the training room, looking worse for wear. I couldn't image what we looked like walking into the dining room. Eloise gasped. I was holding my shoulder, it was still uncomfortable. Gage had a swollen lip and Raven had a bloody nose. (I know another bloody nose. I really liked using elbows to get assailants away from me.) The two other people in the room looked horrified at us.

"Damien, you can't harm the tribute before the games!" Eloise cried.

"It's okay Eloise, I fell. I did it to myself. I'm not hurt." I calmed her down, by putting my hand on her shoulder. I stuffed my face with bread, meat, and mostly starches that I knew would come in handy later on. I ate until I couldn't eat anymore.

We wanted to make Eloise feel useful because of something she had said at breakfast this morning. We realized that she was a real person (even if makeup, tattoos and her clothes said otherwise). She made a reference of this job being so hard because you have to escort two people off to the games and you don't know if you'll ever see them again. I couldn't be mad at her after she had said it. She had this uncanny ability to teeter back and forth between a human with emotions and a Capitol puppet.

"Eloise, we were wondering if you could help us, well, really, help me?" I asked.

"What can I help you with, dear?" she asked, looking delighted.

"You're from the Capitol, who else would better know what questions could get asked during the interview, than you?" I said.

"Eloise, we want you to help Tatum practice her interview." Damien stated. Tears actually came to the girl's eyes. This surprised me in two ways. The first that she reacted like this and second, that her tears weren't multi-colored. I took a quick shower and dressed and met her and the rest of my team in the room where we watched the other reapings. I braided my hair away from my face. They gave me ice to put on my shoulder, to keep it from swelling. While Eloise asked the questions, I watched Gage and Damien for their assessment. I also watched Raven because he had no idea about my strategy.

Before dinner, the four of us met while Eloise was going to change. We grilled Raven about how he had perceived me during the mini-interview. I know I didn't want to talk much about my family, Gage had warned me about it. I needed to fine-tweak a couple of things, but overall, we were pleased.

While at dinner, I had possibly the best thing I had ever eaten. I think it was some kind of steak in a green sauce that was amazing. They served it with potatoes, which were as equally good. They had a duck soup that was even better. After I was done gorging myself, Eloise gave us one last note for the night.

"We will be getting to the Capitol, early tomorrow morning. So, get your rest tonight." She urged us. There was a look in her eyes; it wasn't pity, but something else. She almost looked sad. Eloise, crazy, rainbow-haired girl from the Capitol was a human being after all.

"Thank you Eloise." I said. Bryson said it as well. She smiled and left us.

"You're right." Bryson told me, as I was still staring at where Eloise had left.

"Of course I am; that's why I told you." I told him, as-a-matter-of-factly. We talked for a little bit, it turns out he's in the same class as Bianca. He told me things that she had done in class that she had never told me. Sometimes she would sass the teacher or pull a prank, but he told me that she did amazing artwork, and she hadn't shared that with any of us at home. Cordelia and her crew pulled him away and I said goodnight to him.

We moved to another room, that I hadn't seen. How big was this train, anyways? I wondered. We talked more strategy for me. The game plan was for me to get in with the other Careers and slowly pick them off, one-by-one when the time comes.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Damien asked.

"What exactly is going to happen?" I asked them.

"Once we get off the train, they'll take us to the Training Center; you'll meet your consulting team." Damien gaffed.

"Where they will strip, wax, file, clean, dry, pull, poke and prod you, until your skin is almost raw. Then, they will paint, make up, clothe, and polish you." Gage stated.

"That will take up most of the morning, and then we'll get you into the training rink for extra training." Damien stated.

"Nothing actually starts officially until the day after tomorrow. You'll have training, officially, and meet the other tributes. In three days, you will do your best to impress the judges, make last minute allies, do your interview, get your judges scores and rest up. In four days, you are going into that arena." Damien stated. Four days.

"Get your rest, kid." He told me, taking a sip of his drink. He had spiked it with a dark brown liquor. I got up to go. I caught Gage's eye and singled the hallway.

"Goodnight guys," I told them before heading for my room. I took off the clothes that I was in and let them sit on the floor, in a pile. I raided the closets. I found the nightclothes and picked something out that was sexy and sweet, but at the same time a little bit naughty. I put it on and smiled at the effect. I grabbed a big, fuzzy, white robe they had hanging up for me. I brushed out my hair to make it soft. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," I said. I was still at the mirror, brushing my hair. The door opened. I looked over my shoulder and it was Gage.

"What was that look back there?" He asked me.

"I want to spend time with you." I told him, coming over and cupping his face with my hand.

"And I was hoping," I paused. "You wanted to spend time with me too." I added.

"Of course I want to spend time with you." He told me. I could see the lust in his eyes. I locked the door. He took blankets and stuffed them at the bottom of the door. I looked at him confused.

"I don't want anyone to hear us talk." He told me. I shrugged, I guess it made sense. We still didn't want anyone to know about us.

"You don't know how wonderful you are." He told me. I looked at him, surprised by his comment.

"What do you mean by that?" I was curious.

"I don't really know of any other girl that is prepared to go into the games, that has a heart and cares about her family."

"Well, I'm sure the other Career girls have hearts," I told him.

"Not like you. No one is like you." He told me. I put my head on his shoulder and stroked the back of his head. He wrapped me in his arms.

"Gage," I whispered his name. He kissed my neck.

"Wait," I told him, pushing him away.

"Sit down," I told him. He sat on the bed, perplexed. I'd never seduced him before.

"I want to show you something." I said, slipping the robe off of my shoulders. His eyes lit up. He was surprised to say the least. He actually couldn't figure out what to say. I liked that I could still have this affect on him. I wasn't really sure what to do, it's not like they teach you how to seduce someone in school.

"Guess these Capitol clothes aren't all bad, are they?" I asked. He got up and walked over to me.

"Wow."

"I thought you'd like the color," I told him. Green was his favorite color. This was a bright, Kelly green color and really lacey. He gulped, he kept staring at me. I saw his eyes fill with lust. I closed the gap between us and kissed him. I put my hand on his face and kissed him again. I actually walked us back against the wall, all the while, kissing.

"What's wrong?" I asked him. His eyes said he wanted me but he wasn't acting like he did.

"Is it, me?" I asked, doubting myself now.

"No, Tate, no." he said. I sat on my bed, feeling too vulnerable. Why had I done this? Maybe he didn't really want me after all? Maybe I was just a girl in 4 that he can fool around with. What if he really did have multiple girlfriends in the Capitol and other districts? How could I be so stupid?

"What is it?" I asked him, fearing his answer.

"I, I don't want to take your focus off where it really needs to be." He explained that he was worried about the games, and me losing sight of that. I was silent for a minute, trying to think of how to react, what to say to him.

"Gage, I go into the Hunger Games, on Thursday. We'll be in the Capitol tomorrow. I know exactly what and where my focus is. And right now, it's where I need it to be. When we were leaving 4, I was saying goodbye to my friends and my family. When we got on the train, I was saying bye to my home, our district." I told him. I could feel myself fighting tears. He sat down next to me.

"I've been saying goodbye to places and things I've known my entire life, since my name was called. I know the last time we were together was on our island, but that wasn't a real goodbye, that was goodbye for now. That was before my name was called. I want you, Gage. I just," I paused. I looked at his face and then into his eyes.

"I want you, one last time, just in case I don't come back." I said, as a tear slipped out the corner of my eye. His eyes stared into my soul. I have never cried in front of him, and I really wasn't putting on an act now. I had been so strong for so long, this was the first time, in what seemed like forever that I was completely vulnerable.

He nodded his head a little. I had a little hope. I nodded. He shook his head again and kissed me. I lay back on the bed and brought him down with me. I wrapped my arms around him and brought his head closer into me.

"Hold on," He said. I stopped.

"I swear if you're going to back out now, I'm going to throw you off this moving train." I threatened him.

"Let's start over." He said getting up.

"Get up, stand over there." I got up and did what he asked.

"Just pretend this is our island, that we have all the time in the world, no one knows about us, no one can ever get to us." I told him. He turned around and I could see the hunger in his eyes. He after me and I jumped on him as he picked me up. We smashed into the wall behind me, our lips crashing against each other with a new need. I took off his shirt and threw it. He kissed me, the kind you can feel in your toes. He concentrated on my neck as he moved us to the bed. I stripped him of his pants and he took off the lacy gown I was wearing, his fingers touching each crevice of my body. I looked up at him for a moment.

"What?" He asked, concerned. I bit my lower lip. Should I tell him? If not now, when? I may not get the chance to and then I'll have died without ever telling him.

"I love you." The words fell out of my mouth. He stared at me. He looked so serious.

"I love you Tatum." He stated. I felt my heart thud in my chest. I smiled and he kissed me again. We made love all night. I still remember the first time, it sounds so cliché it was raining and we got caught in a storm.

At home whenever you hear thunder, either you run for cover or you prepare to be soaked. We were training on the first island, an intense training session actually. We heard the thunder but couldn't make it off the island. The storm was actually really bad. Gage and I had been stuck in a small shack that we used to store weapons in. I never really had a crush on him, but I kissed him. It was pure impulse. I was surprised that he didn't push me away, but instead he deepened the kiss. We had made out for a couple hours and as the storm picked up so did our physical status.

I was lying in his arms, curled around his body, smiling.

"What's that smile about?" He asked me, stroking my head and playing with my hair.

"The rain, the hut, our first time," I paused. "How cliché does that sound?" I laughed again.

"Wouldn't believe it if I wasn't there myself."

"Me too, still can't believe you chose me." I told him.

"Why not?" He looked at me.

"Gage, you can have your pick of any girl, or girls you want from all over Panham. I'm Tatum Starboune. I have five sisters, a crazy mother. I have to work and take care of my family. My life's a mess. I'm not exactly what you call a catch." I told him, sinking down on a pillow. This was my raw emotion; I remembered what I had set out to do. I needed to let him go.

"Hey," He said.

"Tate, look at me." He said. "I'd say the opposite,"

"So what did make you chose me?" I forced myself to ask the question. Once I had this answer, I could let him go as a lover.

"You have this uncanny ability to know what people are feeling and how to comfort them. Or just the opposite, how to make them feel completely isolated and alone. I'm pretty sure that comes from observing people so much, like you do. You have a strong spirit about you, and a kind heart, but you only let the people you really trust know that. Every time I think I should count you out, you pull through. No matter what low point you're at you come back and get stronger. It's like you're a phoenix that just keeps rising up out of the ashes." I had my answer. I looked into his eyes.

"And," He paused, lightly kissing my lips.

"You're smoking hot." He said, smirking. He kissed me again, I couldn't pull myself apart. Okay, one last time and I'll stop; at least that's what I told myself. I looked into his eyes and I ran my hand through his hair. We lay there tangled in skin, not moving a muscle. Neither of us could bear to let go of each other. We looked into each other's eyes. This moment was perfect. Come morning, this love of ours would have to die out. He was my last comfort from home that I had to let go.


	8. Nerves

_**Hi there, I'm back with another update! I have some huge things that I'm working on (that you'll hopefully see later on in the story). I have some things that are happening right now, that are having major impacts on my life that is why I'm not updating as frequently that I used to. However, writing is my creative release so I'm continuing to work hard on the story. I hope you enjoy!**_

-Nerves-

When I woke up I noticed the dawn, just breaking outside. I was lying on my stomach, the side of my face glued to a pillow. Oranges, reds and yellows started to fill the sky as the sun starts its ascent. I smiled and reached out my hand. My smile fell.

I knew that he wouldn't be there, but I wanted to wake up and have him next to me, one last time. It hurt more than I thought it would. I gripped the sheets where he was supposed to be. I had woken up like this yesterday. Was this real? I asked myself. I touched my lips with my free hand. They were still swollen, I looked down, and I was naked. It had happened. Tears started to slip out of my eyes. I covered my mouth to keep any sound from escaping. Real tears, fell from my eyes again, for what felt like was the hundredth time in the last couple of days.

Just this once, I allowed myself to wish we were back at home. Back on our island, where Gage and I could have each other whenever we wanted, training, fighting, loving. It was what we did best. My heart was breaking. He had given me the one thing I had asked him too. I had needed him to let me, let him go last night and he did.

I noticed a shift in the room. I looked to where I saw it. There was the Avox girl who helped me yesterday, trying to gathering the clothes I had thrown all over the room. She looked at me, worried. I didn't care that I was naked, I didn't care she was there, I just kept crying.

At one point, I felt a shift in the bed and there was a hand on my shoulder. Me. She was worried about me. Out of all the differently scenarios in the world, this pale Avox girl was worried about me, and I was lying in a bed sobbing. I stopped, I had to stop myself. I had to let him go, that was what I had set out to do. I sat up and pulled the sheets up to my chest.

"I'm fine. Thank you." I told her. She nodded her head. She got up and brought a bunch of food over, on a tray. Gage must have ordered it, or Damien. Either way, it was their message for me to eat. I looked at it and felt my swollen lips again. I nodded at the girl and she left. I forced myself to eat a couple of bites of eggs. I got up from the bed and left the food there. I searched the closets; there were so many beautiful clothes and lots of extreme looking things thrown in there as well.

I didn't know what to wear, what kind of impression did I want to give off? It's not like anyone would really see me. I found the dress and shoes I had worn the day I was reaped. I grabbed them and put them on my bed. Then, I saw an outfit picked for me, lying on a chair. The Avox girl had done it again. It was a white-ruffled sleeveless shirt with a yellow colored, rope belted skirt. It was perfect. I twisted my hair back and pinned it into a bun. I ate the rest of the breakfast, while continuing to look at the other clothes. I found a beautiful blue dress, it reminded me of the ocean, when it was calm in the morning. It had a deep V in the front and in the back. The material was so soft and shiny. I left it on my bed.

There was a familiar knock on the door. I put the food tray in the bathroom.

"Come in," I called. Eloise's bright hued head popped through the door.

"I see you're already awake. Good morning, Tate." She said.

"Good morning, Eloise." I told her.

"Breakfast will be in ten minutes."

"I'll go with you now." I told her.

"Perfect," She seemed pleased about it. I grabbed my locket and put it back around my neck. I took one last look at the room and shut the door. This is where my feelings for Gage died. The spread in the dining room wasn't as elaborate as it had been last night. Only people from the Capitol and Avoxes were occupying it. No one bothered me, as I sat there quietly. I pulled my right leg up to my chest and nibbled on a piece of bacon. I didn't care if I was being rude or not.

"Are you excited to get to the Capitol and the Training Center today?" A guy with orange hair, that was spiked in every direction asked me.

"I don't know. What should I expect?" I asked. It was as if I asked them each their life stories. The entire room started to chirp with how extravagant, how wonderful, fantastic, amazing, and every other positive adjective you could think of, the Capitol is.

"It's fabulous dear, you'll love it!" Gushed a pink haired woman, clasping my hands in hers. Damien walked in, somewhat confused.

"Sleep well?" He asked me.

"I guess," I said, shrugging my shoulders. Damien sat across from me. We ate while the others compared favorite stories from the Capitol. Many were of extravagant parties filled with alcohol. I continued to eat in silence. Every time someone came into the room, I glanced up but always returned my focus to the plate of food.

How was I going to try to form an alliance with the other Careers? Going straight up to them would be awkward. During training, maybe we would run into each other? Gage said that usually you choose what stations you wanted to go to. That could be an opportunity. I could wow them with my trident throwing skills, or with ropes or nets. That seemed like a better approach. The question that kept nagging me surfaced again.

Did I want to automatically team up with Bryson? He could be a huge vulnerability. Every year for the chariots, the tributes are shown as a pair. Bryson made it clear that he hadn't wanted to team up with me over the past two days. I watched his mannerisms. He liked to take short, quick bites, as if the food was going to get taken away at a moment. He acted impulsively.

"We will be arriving within the hour!" Eloise announced, clapping her hands again. I raised an eyebrow and looked at Bryson who was also staring at her. He shook his head and went back to eating.

"So kid, what's your strategy?" I asked, Bryson. He looked at me.

"Why would I tell you?" He asked. So he was the, play-it-close-to-the-chest kind of tribute.

"Relax, Bryson. I only want to know if we're teaming up or not." I told him, bluntly. He was shocked I had asked so directly.

"You may want to finish chewing your food before you answer." I told him, popping a piece of bread into my mouth. I looked at Bryson who seemed slightly dumbfounded so I looked at Cordelia.

"Is your plan to stick with the other Careers?" I asked her. She looked back at Bryson.

"Yes," He answered.

"Me too, what a coincidence. We should appear united that way they can approach us as a team or pair." I stated. Everyone looked at me like I had three heads.

"What is it with the looks here people?" I asked, somewhat annoyed. Did no one think I could strategize? I think Gage was mad that I so openly discussed it. My care factor was at zero. I needed answers.

"If that's alright with the two of you?" I asked, looking at Damien and Cordelia. They looked at each other. They both shrugged their shoulders and agreed.

"Bryson?" I asked.

"That sounds fine." He agreed. Everyone went back to talking. Even though Bryson had said he was fine, his body language didn't exactly scream he wanted to team up. I kept my eye on him. We noticed that the scenery outside was changing. There were large, dark, buildings. I moved over to a window. I was surprised at how clean and large everything was. Bryson went to another window to look at everything.

"I guess we're not in 4 anymore," He said.

"Definitely not," I replied. Gage, Damien and Raven came over to me.

"I need you to do me a favor." I told them, none of them in particular.

"The white dress and shoes, I wore Reaping Day. They aren't mine, their Moira's. They're sitting on the bed, you need to make sure they get back to her." I told them. I saw a crowd start, by the train tracks. Flashes went off.

"Also, there's another dress in there. It is this awesome blue number, also on the bed. Save that." I paused.

"I want to wear it when I get out of the games." I added.

"We have arrived!" Eloise announced, clapping her hands again, as the train stopped. This was it. I had broken every possible tie I could with my district now. Of course Damien was a tie I couldn't exactly cut, he'd (hopefully) be sending me things, knowing him, there's a chance he may let me suffer. Bryson was the only tie that would be with me in the games, and I hoped it wouldn't come down to the two of us killing each other.

"Don't be scared." Eloise said, lining us up behind her. Sometimes she made it hard for me not to just reach up and grab one of those ridiculous colored curls of hers and yank as hard as I could. We were about to go into an arena with twenty-two other kids, where we will have to fight and kill for our lives, and this girl was telling us not to be afraid of the crowd waiting for her to get off the train. I looked back, with my mouth open, to say something to my guys. Damien just snapped at me and pointed his finger forward. He had done this so many times during training. If I hadn't listened he would slap me, or make me do some other training exercise that I hated. I hated that it had worked, I turned around.

She told us to wait and count to ten before we followed her. First, Bryson and his team, then, me and mine to follow. I saw the Avox girl that aided me in my room. I put my hand over my heart and nodded at her. It is what she had done, as if to show affection. She smiled and cast her eyes down, for there were Peacekeepers around. The doors opened, Eloise matched out. There were flashes, people jumping, trying to see us, screaming, asking questions. It was overwhelming. Bryson and I looked at each other.

"Time to put on our game faces," I told him.

"Go," A peacekeeper told him. I nodded and he marched. There was even more of an explosion of flashed and yelling. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. These people wouldn't know Tate, they would know Tatum Starbourne, from the Hunger Games. I said goodbye to part of myself, the last part of myself that really showed affection or kindness. It was back in the room with Moira's dress and shoes, and the gorgeous blue dress.

"Go," The same peacekeeper said. I opened my eyes and breathed out. I took a step out of the train. I smiled a seductive grin and kept my eyes focused. I looked past the crowd, begging me to answer questions, up at the buildings. I followed the Peacekeepers that were in front of me into a big, darkened car. Once everyone was in the car, it sped off. We were heading to the Training Center and what would determine, quite literally, the rest of my life.


	9. Prep Team or Aliens?  More Training

_**Hey- just a quick update. I changed the ending to this chapter, to prep more for the next to come. **_

- Prep Teams Aliens? / More Training-

We were traveling so fast, I couldn't really see the surroundings, of what really made the Capitol. I sat back in the cool, black, leather seats.

"Watch your eyes," Damien told me. I looked at him.

"Make sure they don't give away too much." He added. I hadn't thought of that before.

"Plan for meeting the other tributes?" I asked him.

"You want to go with the other careers, make an impression." Gage said.

"Anything I should know about this prep team that's apparently going to rip me apart and put me back together?" I asked them. The two looked at each other and laughed. This was not, in fact comforting, and I knew they were purposely having fun toying with me.

"Just shut up and let them do their job," Damien said with an evil grin.

"I hate you. Both." I sat there, trying to make peace with myself. Maybe it was good that a prep team would make me look nothing like myself, that girl is gone anyways. It only took a couple of minutes and we had arrived. The Training Center was huge, as far up as I could see. It had a black exterior so that nothing can see in. Instead of parking and walking in, we drove underground and into the building. The idea of being under something so big wasn't my favorite. We were dumped out of the cars and reunited with Bryson, his team and Eloise again.

Eloise started to lead us through a maze of dark blue walls.

"There are our tributes!" A high pitched voice squealed. In front of us, there was a guy with gold, I kid you not, gold hair. The right side of his hair was sticking up in every direction possible, and his left side looked like it was glued down to the side of his head. I think the voice actually came out of him. There were four people around him. My eyes became wide at the sight of them. I thought Eloise looked crazy, this group put her to shame.

There was only one other male in the group. The oddest thing about him happened to be his beard, which was dyed the same color as his hair. His hair was dyed a bright red, the same color as an ember in a fire. Yet, his eyebrows were black. The first girl I noticed, had bright blue hair. It was curled and teased bigger than I had ever seen. It must have added at least half a foot to her. The girl's skin was tinted a weird color, but I couldn't quite make it out. The second girl had pink hair with little pearls and what looked like gems somehow tucked into her hair. Then, there was a girl with silver hair all slicked back with a black hat on. She wore an all black suit skirt with a big bow on the shoulder. She was very sleek and polished but with her own Capitol spin on fashion.

"Bravo, come meet your tributes." Eloise said, proudly showing us off. The five of them came towards us like a flock to a shepherd. There were names thrown around, handshakes, hugs, and lots and lots of talking. Someone picked up a piece of my hair, another one started to run her hand through my hair, all the while talking about something else completely. I'm pretty sure someone grabbed my cheek and pinched it. I looked at Damien and Gage for help. The two of them were exchanging amused glances. Not helpful. At. All.

"Stop," The girl in the hat commanded. Her skin was porcelain white.

"Let's get them to their rooms before launching ourselves on them." She stated. Eloise seemed to have forgotten that we were going to go up to our rooms first. She straightened up her jacket and showed us towards an elevator. We had never had one in 4 before, so it was a new experience for both Bryson and me, to be jetted up, several stories high, in seconds.

This was my prep team? They looked like they could be from a different planet. This girl that put precious gems in her hair was going to do my hair? The guy with gold hair that looked like he had stuck is finger in an electrical socket was going to dress me? I gulped.

The girl in blue started to play with my hair. I slapped her hand away from my head.

"Stop that," The porcelain, black hat girl said. The only person I really let touch my hair was Moira. The elevator stopped and Eloise floated out into the hallway. I followed her, simply to get away from blue girl and the others that continuously kept touching my hair. Eloise stopped.

"Tatum, these are your quarters." She stated motioning for the steel looking door.

"And these are your quarters down here, Bryson." She moved down the hallway to what I assumed was another door.

"We'll start with her and get to you. She needs more work." Porcelain said. I sneered towards her. I felt Gage or Damien, I wasn't sure which, flick my back. I stood up straighter.

"Bryson, I'll send the team over in a bit to get started. Shall we?" Hat girl said, motioning for my door. I sighed as Damien opened the door and Gage pushed me through the threshold.

"I am Calypso." The girl in the hat said, taking it off, where I swear, not a hair was out of place. She was clearly the person in charge.

"This is Bravo," She gestured towards the guy with the gold hair.

"We are two main stylists and designers. We collaborate on everything you and the other tribute, Bryson, put on." She stated. Bravo smiled like he had never seen a girl before.

"You are going to be absolutely fabulous when we get done with you." He stated.

"This is Skye." Bravo stated, motioning for the lady in blue. Blue, sky blue, like the color of her hair and eyes, okay I get it. The guy with the red hair is named Epsilon and the pink girl was Destiny. Calypso and Bravo stared me up and down; I imagined they were sizing me up.

"I'm staying with her, you go get him. Keep it simple, basic, plan 2 for him." Calypso told Bravo.

"I'd say plan 5 for her." He said, tilting his head to the side, looking at me.

"I was thinking 4." She stated. You could see him think about it.

"We can start with 5 and bump it up to 4 later." He stated.

"See you in a bit." They had acted like I wasn't even there. Bravo took Destiny (pink gem girl) and set off. As soon as they left the room, Calypso started to bark orders at everyone. Someone was grabbing my hair, another person was touching my face, another measuring me for something.

"Aren't you two going to help at all?" I called to Gage and Damien, as I was being both pushed and pulled into the bathroom.

"Nope," Damien replied. Gage only laughed. I was stripped down and put in a bathtub where I was scrubbed down. My hair was washed by some flower-smelling shampoo. When I was done being scrubbed down, they patted me dry. This did not last long.

"What's that?" I asked, sitting on the edge of the bathtub. They were putting some warm gel type thing on my legs and covered it with a strip of paper.

"It's wax darling." Epsilon stated. I looked at Calypso.

"We're getting all the unwanted hair off of you." She stated, ripping off the paper.

"Ow!" I yelled. Then, I realized I had it on various parts all over my body. I reminded myself that I was going to training later in the day. Good, I would need to hit something after this.

"So you're going to make me pretty before I go fight to the death?" I asked them. Skye and Epsilon looked horrified. Calypso looked at me and smirked.

"We're here to do more than that darling. We're going to make sure that Panham falls in love with you." She leaned in close to my ear.

"So that they may keep you alive," She stated. She wasn't appalled at my sarcasm like the others. Maybe she actually understood. I really liked her. The three of them really did poke, prod, rip, lotion, smooth, brush and make up me. They started to smear a lotion on me that smelled like burning hair.

"What is that?" I said trying not to breath any of it in.

"Tanning lotion; since, you've spent so much time in the sun we need to even out your skin tone and get rid of tan lines. This is going to do that." Calypso explained.

"The smell will fade in a few minutes." Epsilon stated. The last thing they did was throw some clothes on me.

"Now, these were not our favorite choice, however," she paused. "We are not allowed to have free reign of you until the chariot rides." She sighed. I put on the khaki pants that were very form fitting but had a stretch to them. I put on a black t-shirt and the black knee-high boots she handed me. I looked at her, I doubt the Capitol would have given us each knee-high boots.

"Well, we did put our own flair to things." She stated. I smiled. They were forced to play by the rules as well, but they still did what they could with what they could. I can appreciate that. Then, I noticed that she was glaring at my hair.

"Do you typically wear your hair down or up?" She asked.

"Down, but I like it kept off my face," I replied.

"Skye, do that half up braid you like so much." Skye was elated and started weaving my hair right away. It only took her a couple of minutes and then, she was done. Calypso looked me over once again with a critical eye and then nodded. She turned me around and I was able to see myself for the first time.

My skin looked flawless, almost like it was glowing. There was makeup on my eyes that made my blue eyes stand out. Skye had twisted my hair back into sections adding a couple of braids. My hair was golden, shiny and beautiful. It didn't look like me, but it did. I wasn't sure how to explain it. I looked like a Career. The only reason I knew it was me was because of the small scar near my right ear. I had gotten it when I was ten. Moria and I were fighting and she had grabbed a plate and launched it at my head. Lucky for me, she had terrible aim and it shattered on the wall next to me. A piece of the plate had cut me and I had needed five stitches. The mark had never fully gone away.

"Alright, the boys must be wondering how you look by now." She stated. The two others went out to my main chambers. When Calypso walked me out, everyone was waiting for me. Bravo had come back with Destiny, Bryson and his training crew.

"Wow." Bryson stated.

We were lead down to the actual training room. I was in awe when I first stepped in. It was a giant room with dark grey walls. This one room may have been bigger than the square in 4.

"Tate," Damien said. He pointed with his head to the right. I followed where he was nodding to. My jaw literally dropped. There were weapons, of all kind, lining the wall. Not just one wall, but two. I think Eloise started to say something but I blocked her out and walked straight over to the nearest wall. There were tridents, knives of all kind, swords, spears, axes, bow and arrows, and more, so much more. I touched the trident and ran my hand over it. It was shiny and probably brand new. I want it. It took everything in me not to pick it up. Instead, I moved on.

The knives were astonishing. They had big knives, small ones, fat ones, very tiny ones. Some looked like what the butcher used. I didn't realize how many different types there were. My eyes were gleaming with intrigue. The trainers left the two of us to gawk at the mass weapon arsenal.

"See something you like?" Bryson asked.

"I think I would give up fishing for these." I stated. It was a pretty bold statement because everyone from 4 knew my family as great fishermen.

"Good with knives then?" He asked.

"Yeah. What's your go-to besides the trident?" I asked him.

"Spears and rope," he stated.

"I'll remember that," I noted. Not only to grab some in the arena for him, if possible, but to also watch out for him if he does have some, just in case he decides to try and kill me. I knew he was thinking the same thing.

"So do we want them to train together now or start tomorrow?" I heard Cordelia ask. She wasn't asking Bryson or me, but Damien.

"We can train them for a couple of hours separately and then for a couple hours together tonight." Damien suggested. I ignored them and moved on.

"Have you ever used a bow before?" I asked him.

"We had one when I was younger, I'm not sure why. I've only shot it a couple of times." He told me.

"More than me," I told him.

"What _is_ this?" He asked, moving towards a new set of weapons. It had a wooden handle to it but sharpened blades on both sides. I picked it up and heaved it at the opposing wall.

"Yup, it's an axe." I stated. "I've never seen one that had two sides before, though." I added. It was a lot heavier than I had expected, and it barely hit the mark I was aiming for.

"Okay, before Tate decides to start destroying everything in here, let's get you in a smaller room." Gage concluded.

"Well they say you should leave a mark." I said, sarcastically. Bryson smirked; Gage and Damien did not seem thrilled. Let them be annoyed by my sarcasm, I was the one going into the Games. I was ushered into a 'smaller' room, which was probably the size of the school I went to. I was blindfolded again. Once that was done, they made me put something in my ears so I couldn't hear. Sense deprivation is what they were going for. I couldn't see, then, I couldn't hear. I can't possibly see how my taste was going to come into play but they didn't act on it, that, or my sense of touch. My smell wasn't exactly something they could work on.

Damien did make me start a fire. I wasn't as pleased with how long it took me as Damien deemed it 'fine'. I had grown used to Gage making the fires whenever we were together. I pushed the memory away and continued to build the fire. Once I was done with a second fire, I needed to relieve stress.


	10. Unexpected Surprises

_**Hi readers! I changed the end of the last chapter to build this one up a little more (plus I could build it up more in this chapter). I have to admit, I love this chapter in so many ways. It's a pretty good title for this chapter too, if I do say so myself. Let me know what YOU think! Xo-prettypinkcheer5**_

_**Unexpected Surprises **_

"I need to throw a knife at something." I stated, sighing. I was getting really tired. They set up a dummy for me. Raven and Gage moved it at different angles, lengths and had me aim for it. At one point fastened wheels to it, and pushed it to and from one another, making me throw at a moving target. The four of us enjoyed this game for half an hour. The last thing that they covered was climbing. I already knew how to climb because of being on boats, but it wasn't the same as trying to climb a tree. Since we didn't exactly have a tree in the middle of the room, they made me try to climb a pole. It didn't go well and it was frustrating to all of us.

"That's it, I'm done!" I declared marching out of the room. That was after I had finally managed to breathe again. I had been about half way up the pole and slipped and fell. I had landed on my back and it instantly knocked the wind right out of me. I was tired, sore and now cranky.

"We are not done here." Damien stated. I grabbed I knife and launched it near him. I say near because even though I wanted to kill him, right then, I couldn't. Instead, the knife found its way into the wall.

"We are done." I said walking away.

"You'll never win these Games with that attitude." Damien screamed at me. I had never him yell before, but I was tired, sore and hurt at this point.

"There's no such thing." I said, stopping by the door. Then, I thought about it for a split second. It was _me_ going into the arena. _Me_ against twenty-three other kids. _Me_ getting my ass kicked by these three guys. It was _me_ that was taken away from my family and my home, everything I knew. I cracked. There were twenty-three other kids that were in the same situation, some more trained and prepared than others. Twenty-four of us total. Twenty-four going in. Only one comes out of that arena. I've seen the toll it takes on a victor. I had two shining examples right in front of me. I snapped.

"Don't you get it? The Hunger Games are a _game _to everybody that's _not_ in it. The only way to win, is to kill everyone else. There is no _winner_!" I exploded. I stormed out with a rage that I had never felt before.

Nobody came after me. I marched around corridor after corridor. Since I wasn't a Capitol citizen and I had never been to this place, I was lost almost instantly. Every hallway looked the same; each was painted a gold color. I didn't even care that I had no idea where I was, I was still angry and that led me through the maze of hallways. Why did everything have to look the same?

I continued to wonder around the halls, letting the anger leave my body. I guess I understood why Gage, Damien and Raven were pushing me so hard but if they kept this up I would be useless come the day of the Games. If they kept running me like this I'd be one of the first tributes dead. I meant what I said, well, yelled at them. I really believed that there was no winner to this game. On the outside, Gage was calm, cool and collected, on the inside, he was a raging mess. Winning only meant you were at the Capitol's beck and call.

I needed to go home. I needed to get back to my mother, and most of all, to my sisters. With mom slightly delusional in her current relationship it's been up to Moira and me to take care of our sisters. They need me back home. I have to get back home. I will go back home.

After fifteen minutes of wondering around (seriously, how _big_ is this place?), I admitted defeat and started to look for someone that could point me back to my room. I turned a corner and saw a bunch of people gathered towards the end of the hall. Everyone was dressed in all white. I opened my mouth to call for them to help me when I saw one of them fall to the ground.

This person wasn't dressed in white, as all the other ones were, but dressed in a blue shirt and black pants. It was a boy with red hair. As he tried to stand up, he screamed as they shoved him down, kicking and punching him in the process. They were openly beating him. I was in shock. He couldn't have been any more than a few months older than me. I watched in horror as they grabbed some kind of equipment or tool, and clamped down on him. They put something over his mouth. I realized what I was witnessing a little too late. These were more Peacekeepers. They were making this poor boy an Avox.

I quickly turned around and started down the hall. That guy was being dragged somewhere to have his tongue ripped out. My heart was racing, I felt like I might throw up. Should I have tried to stop them? What did that guy do to deserve that? My mind was racing with more and more questions as I turned the corner, not paying attention to where I was going. I don't think I was even blinking. I ran into a huge, solid figure. The person that I had barreled into staggered a few steps back and I fell hard on the floor.

"I… uh," I stammered to find words. Normally, I'd be enraged by the person that he/she completely ran into me without even paying attention. Mind you, I was aware that I was moving but I was still in shock from what I had just seen. I still couldn't find the words. I looked up to the person I ran into.

He had a black suit on with tiny white pinstripes on it. His shoes were expensive; they were black, glossy leather. His hands were large and surprisingly tan. He had on a white button down shirt and a black vest under a black suit jacket. His face was tan too, but it had an alarmingly orange tint to it. His green eyes were large. He had rosy cheeks. His mahogany hair was styled perfectly, not a hair out of place. He looked surprisingly younger than what I had seen before. He was actually my father's age when he had died, but looked younger somehow.

"You," I said dumbfounded. I finally blinked, reminding myself that I was still on the floor.

"Ah, Miss Starbourne," He said. I pushed myself off the floor. I didn't know how to react.

"Sir, Mr. President, uh," I had no idea what to call him. I was confused in so many different ways. I was trying to figure out what I had just seen in the hallway to the boy, I had literally just run into the President of Panham, and now I was just shocked and didn't know how to act, say or do.

"President Cromwell," Another man said. There were two other people with him; this guy and a tiny looking woman.

"Miss Starborne, it's nice to meet you." He said. I stuck out my hand, unsure if I should address him, curtsey or runaway. Naturally, I decided on the stupidest thing, a handshake. He shook my hand. I was still flabbergasted.

"You can go on, ahead." He told his, what I'm going to call assistants. The girl looked irritated but both of them walked down the hall. Once they were a solidly half way down the hall, he finally looked at me.

"Walk with me Tatum," He stated. It wasn't a request. I had never really liked being called Tatum, it always made me feel like I was getting in trouble for something. In my house, I usually was. But, when he said it, it sent chills down my spine. He looked like an ordinary man, extremely polished but ordinary nonetheless. I followed him down the hall.

"How was your trip here?" He asked. Crap, crap! How was I going to play this? I needed to make a split second decision.

"It was splendid. Everyone has been so nice, and so helpful." I beamed, smiling, ear-to-ear. If Moira were here, she'd be laughing at me, knowing I was lying through my teeth. He studied me.

"Where exactly, were you heading to?" He asked.

"I was trying to find the training room. I know we're not 'technically' supposed to start training but I just really hoping I could at least get to look around." I said smiling like an idiot. I was purposely trying to act like the stupid, silly girls in my classes.

"I'm not really good with direction and I kind of got lost. Oh gosh, please, _please_ don't let that get out. I was trying to find someone to help me." I poured it on for good measure. He seemed to think this through. He kept walking. 'He bought it,' I said to myself. Then, he stopped abruptly.

"Tatum, it's not wise to lie to me. I know all about you, and your family. You're a lot smarter than that." I swallowed the water building up in my throat. I creased the skin in between my eyes, confused at what he was saying. He leaned in closer to me, making me take a step back, towards the wall. If I wasn't creeped out before, I certainly was now. I was getting in a defensive position, as if in attack.

"I'm assuming, by that flummoxed look on your face when you ran into me, you saw what was going on. It would be intelligent for you, to forget that scene entirely. It also shows you, what can happen if you pay no heed to or deviate orders of Panham." He knew what I had seen. My heart skipped a beat.

"You're a beautiful girl, Tatum. You can put on that act of yours for the citizens of Panham, but like I said, it is foolish to lie to me. It would be a shame for anyone, no matter what their stature, status, or role to meet that fate as that man back there, or worse. Don't you think?" He asked, straightening himself backup. The skin on his face was definitely more orange than I had originally thought. His breath smelled like peppermints.

"Yes," I said meakly. Who was he threatening exactly? He started to walk again.

"Follow me," He stated. I followed him, attempting to process exactly what he had said. He knew I had seen the man being dragged and beaten, that he was going to become an Avox, never to speak again. He knew about my family, my sisters. He had mentioned stature- was that directed towards Gage? Did he know? My heart beat sped up. He had met up with his two assistants and together, we went down another series of hallways.

Raven, Gage, Damien, Bryson and his team were all gathered together near a door. We walked towards him. I could see President Cromwell start to put on his own act. His posture changed and the evil glare in his eyes disappeared.

"Ah, here we are! I believe you lost one of your tributes." He said. Damien, Gage and Cordelia tightened their jaws. Cordelia tightened her fists, I thought she was going to attack him. I actually kind of wish she would. It took everything in me not to shake with rage and fear.

"Here you are Tatum. Remember, we must'n't go gallivanting about unescorted. Mr. Fireside, it is a pleasure to meet you. I'm afraid I must run, important meetings and such." He said while starting down the hall with his two mignons.

"And remember, may the odds be ever in your favor." He turned around and called to us.

Our group was silent until we couldn't see them and their footsteps were replaced with silence.

"Let's get into the room." Raven stated. His voice was at a normal level but it was booming in my ear. I was shuffled into the room. I sat down on the floor. I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. My arms still had goosebumps from witnessing the boy being beaten and realizing his fate.

"Wow, so that was President Cromwell." Bryson stated. My eyes were still wide; I was in shock about everything. I had to replay everything in my mind that had just happened:

1. I had stormed out of a training session.

2. I had gotten myself lost.

3. I saw a man being beaten; he was going to become an Avox.

4. While fleeing from that scene, I ran smack-dab into the President.

5. He had threatened me, and quite possibly those closest to me.

6. He delivered me back here.

"What's wrong with you?" Damien asked. I was staring at a crack in the floor. Damien smacked my arm. I came out of my trance.

"What did he say?" Cordelia of all people asked.

"He didn't say anything. He helped me get back here." I said, creasing my brow.

"If you want to play this sweet little innocent girl bit, you're lying really needs work." She replied. How had she known he said something?

"Sorry, I wasn't really trying." The truth was, the words just kind of spilled out of my mouth.

"So what did he tell you?" Gage asked. Everyone seemed intrigued.

"Um," I thought it over. Honesty was probably the best policy with them, considering they may know what he meant, or at least what I can do to protect my family and whoever else he had threatened.

"I saw something I shouldn't have." I admitted. I took a deep breath.

"I was in shock, and I was just walking, actually it was closer to running, just away from what I saw. I ran into him, literally smacked into him. He asked what I was doing. I made up some lie and he called me on it, like you did." I said looking at Cordelia.

"He told me that I could put on an act for all of Panham, but he knew me, or something like that. He said I was too smart for that, and that I shouldn't lie to him. No, how did he put it? It would be unwise to lie to him." I paused.

"He threatened me, and I think my family. But, I think it was more of a warning than a real threat." I told them, figuring it out myself. The Victors all exchanged looks

"What do you mean he threatened your family?" Damien asked, cautiously.

"He was referring to what I saw, or was about to see. He asked what a shame it would be to end up like that. But it served as a type of lesson. Like if you defied the Capitol and Panham you'd meet some horrible fate." I paraphrased.

"What did you see?" Gage asked.

"I saw a boy being dragged and beaten. They were taking him to make him an Avox." My statement filled the room.

"He said that it doesn't matter what your status or stature are, that it's an awful fate to meet. I think it was a warning to me, but what does that mean?" I asked confused and scared. The Victors exchanged more glances, as did our training crews. Everyone seemed to run about all at the same time. Some looked terrified, others were talking, mostly there was arguing. It was like I had instantly turned invisible; no one paid any attention to me.

"He knows she's powerful."

"You have to be careful."

"Does that mean he'll go after her?"

"What about the girl's family?" Everyone was talking all at once. They ignored me, talking over one another, trying to figure out what the President had meant by what he had said. I continued to sit on the floor, staring at the crack again. Bryson came over and sat next to me.

"Did he really say that to you?" He asked. I nodded my head.

"Yeah," I said.

"Bryson, maybe it would be best for you if we didn't team up. If he's going to come after me, you'd be so much better off if you weren't with me." I told him.

"Not a chance."

"Bryson, I'm being serious. I don't want you to die because of me." I told him, meaning it. I did not want his blood on my hands.

"We made a plan to stick together, and I'm sticking with that plan."

"Under the circumstances, I'm giving you full permission to back out on that. It'd be smart for you to just not be attached to me." I told him.

"You're stuck with me Tatum." He said. He was younger than me, but was acting a lot older.

"Plus, if he does go after you, you have a better chance of surviving it with me by your side." He said. I actually smiled at his joke. What had I gotten myself into?


	11. A Little OneonOne

_**Hello once again! Thank you so, so much for reading. This chapter was really short for a while and then ended up pretty long. If it's choppy, I apologize but there are a lot of things happening in it. The training and chariots should be next but I keep rewriting them. You get to actually meet the other tributes and get Tate's observations of everyone. I also love the chariots. I hope you aren't too mad at the twist I threw in at the end. I have a plan and everything happens for a reason in this (well, most of the time anyway). What do you think of their plan? Do you think it will work?**_

_**There is a ton of character interaction in this chapter. Bryson is definitely growing on me as a character and he's really getting fun to write- I hope you love him as much as I do, and the same with Tatum. Hit that awesome little review button and let me know. xo-prettypinkcheer5**_

One-on-One

Bryson and I sat there for a couple of minutes. Cordelia, Gage, Damien, and Lionel (another Victor) were full on screaming at one another. The four of them were arguing about what I had done, what everyone's next step should be, but beyond me, I think they were fighting for a piece of themselves. I couldn't imagine not only winning the Games, but then having to send two kids from your home district, just to watch them die. I think they were fighting for pieces of themselves.

"Still want to train?" Bryson asked me, calling my attention away from our mentors and victors that were falling apart. He had gotten up and was now standing.

"Yeah," I said getting up. We walked over to a mat, away from all of them. They were still arguing.

"If they can't keep themselves together, how are they going to keep us alive?" I asked.

"Maybe we'll just keep ourselves alive. Come on," He stated. We walked to the center of the mat.

"Hand-to-hand combat?" I asked.

"Sure," I smiled at his response. He stared at me.

"Something tells me this is going to be fun." He added.

"Alright, bring it." I told him, waving him towards me. He smiled as he charged me. As I ran and jumped kicked towards his chest, he slid down on the ground, so he went under me. I landed and he was already up. He grabbed me from behind. Why was everyone always trying to do that? I jumped up and with all the force in me fell backwards. The two of us fell to the mat. I quickly rolled over to get on top of him. He threw me off of him. The two of us got up, waiting for each other's next move.

"You're quicker and stronger than I thought." I admitted.

"I like to have that element of surprise." He replied. I jabbed my fist and round-house kicked him in the shoulder. He fell to the ground. I dove on top of him but once again he tossed me off of him.

"How do you keep doing that?"

"Why do _you_ keep doing that?" He asked. He lunged for me but I did a back handspring and kicked him in the process. He held his jaw. Bryson kicked me, square in my stomach. I had to catch my breath. He also rammed his elbow into the side of my head. I fell to the mat. While I was there, I swiped the floor with my leg, kicking his legs out from under him. I jumped up, as did he. We both stepped back a couple of feet, making the distance between us greater. I ran and did an aerial to throw my momentum forwards. We were heading straight for one another.

"Stop!" Someone yelled. Raven and Lionel grabbed Bryson while Damien grabbed me by my hair and yanked me backwards.

"What the hell?" I screamed. Going for the hair was totally uncalled for. I was tempted to kick him in the balls.

"We can't have the two of you killing each other." Cordelia stated. I threw Damien's hands off me. Raven and Lionel also let Bryson go.

"You really do move fast." I told him.

"You're tricky." He told me.

"How so?" I asked.

"Not tricky so much as unexpected. When I thought you'd go for one shot, you'd hit me from another. When you kicked, I could have sworn you were going to punch." He stated.

"You two should be a force to be reckoned with." Lionel stated.

"So, how about you train together and not fight each other, but fight together instead." Damien said. They made us run drills together. We put everything on display for each other. I saw how truly scary he was with a spear. At one point I threw up a coin and while it was still flipping he hit it. With a rope, he set up a snare and various other things I didn't know a rope could turn into. Then, it was my turn to be on display. I showed them everything I had.

"You're deadly with those things." Bryson has referring to the trident and knives.

"I had a good trainer." I said, looking at Gage. I sat down at the table we were all sitting at now that we were finished showcasing our skills.

"He was your trainer?" Bryson asked, shocked.

"Yeah, for the last couple of years. I just don't want to come off that prepared. I want to catch the Careers off guard. Come off as strong but kind of a ditzy, cute girl who happens to be good with a trident and decent with knives." I admitted.

"There it is. That's my entire strategy." I laid it out for him.

"I want to be the strong guy that people expect from 4. I want to be charming in front of the camera when I get interviewed." He said. He was going to act like the typical Career.

"I think it'd be smart to present them together, as a united front?" Cordelia asked.

"They can be 4's golden pair. Bryson, the charming, daring Career, and Tatum, the beautiful, feminine survivor." She said, conjuring up a story.

"Survivor?" I asked.

"You're bred from a line of Victors. It doesn't matter if you didn't know your great*grandfather or not. Which, I suspect you did since you were * when he died. You're a second generation tribute."

"And on top of that, your father died. They have to know you were close to him by now. Play up the survivor mode with you, to give an edge. You can play up the girly part or whatever it is you want to play up." Gage stated. We sat around talking strategy for a while. We ate dinner together that night.

Later on, we had to meet with the prep teams again. We told them how the two of us were supposed to be presented. They worked on my hair more, adding in more blonde colors. They applied more lotion to 'smooth out' my skin color. While Calypso was smearing it all over, I stopped her.

"This isn't going to make me look orange like President Cromwell, is it? If the answer is yes, I want it off, right now." I told her. She laughed.

"I always thought he did use too much." She admitted.

"What exactly are you doing?" I asked her. This time, the assault team was gone and it was just her.

"Making you District 4's golden girl. I need to amp up your makeup and make you powerful and strong and at the same time glam and feminine. Essentially I'm making you the perfect combination of sexy and cute." She explained.

"What do you think of me?" I asked her. She had no reason to lie to me.

"You're a lot stronger than the other tributes we've had from 4. Something tells me you have a couple tricks up your sleeve. I think you'll go really far. I don't know any of your strengths or anything like that." She stated. She was brushing out my hair.

"Personally, I'm pulling for you." She stated, pushing me out of the bathroom. I met the rest of our growing crew in the hallway, outside of my chambers. Bryson and I were shown where we could go, and the basic layout of the area, and how to use the elevator. Eloise loved showing us 'the ropes'.

After another ridiculously good meal, as a team, we gathered and watch previous Hunger Games. I got to see Finnick, Gage's three-times-great-grandfather. I had only seen pictures of him, but seeing Finnick in action was something else entirely.

"You look so much like him." Bryson told Gage.

"You fight like him." I told him. Gage caught my eye. I wasn't sure how to take my comment. Just two years later we watched Annie's. She was a tragic, little girl. You could actually see the moment she snapped. I stopped watching, she was just too sad to watch. A couple of years later we watched Katniss and Peeta's. They were the two that set off the revolution. He didn't kill a single person, no one had died by his hand. There was a girl who grabbed a bunch of berries from a pile he had, neither of them knew the berries were poisonous.

"I need to go to the eatable plants station." I admitted. Katniss was a powerhouse to be reckoned with. She was crazy with a bow. I'm not going to lie; I had a girl-crush on Katniss. I want to be her in the arena; she was so fierce. You could tell she really loved Peeta. We watched the Quarter Quell, which caused an uproar at the time. There were very distinct packs and teams for this one. The ending of the Games was edited, but Gage had found out the truth because of his family. We watched two more but I ended up passing out before the last one was over. I woke up and I was moving.

"What's going on?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"Put me down." I demanded.

"You fell asleep and they don't particularly like you sleeping random places here." Damien said.

"Put me down." I repeated. He nearly dropped me.

"Why didn't you wake me?" I asked him.

"You were actually sleeping, that's something you won't get a lot of in the next couple of days-slash-weeks." He stated. I opened my room.

"Tatum," Damien said. I caught the door.

"What?" I asked, just so ready to fall on my bed and sleep. He took a step in my room, more than that; he actually leaned in close to my ear.

"I know about you and Gage." I grabbed him and pulled him into the room.

"How and when did you find out?" I asked. He pulled me into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

"What the-"

"They can't hear us through the rain." He stated.

"I suspected something between you two on the train. The way you two act around each other isn't anything out of the ordinary, but there are little comments and little looks you two exchange." He paused.

"The loaded gun when I knew for sure, I had the room next to yours on the train." He stated. I had to think back then I realized our last night on the train together. My eyes got wide. I wanted to say something but I was embarrassed and slightly scared.

"I'm not going to say anything. He's going to do everything to bring you home, and I'm scared what he may face because of that. But more important, you can't worry about him when you go into that arena." He told me.

"I know." I said.

"That night, that was it. We're done. It's done." I told him. I looked at the floor, convincing myself that we were in fact done. I hadn't realized that we had been exchanges looks, minus the one from earlier. There was a banging from the door. I looked at Damien.

"Turn that off, I'll get it." He commanded me. I shut off the shower and walked out to find Gage, Lionel, and Cordelia.

"What are all of you doing here?" I asked, confused.

"We need to talk about what Cromwell told you." I sat on the bed. All I wanted to do was crawl under the blankets and pass out. I didn't want to analyze what Cromwell told me, in what tone, what I said, and how I was going to act around him, in front of camera, etc. Damien and Gage sat on both sides of me.

We went over the tiniest details, which didn't seem like a big deal to me. I guess any exchange with President Cromwell was a big deal.

"Will he go after my family?" I asked. I thought of my sisters and mother. Moira was my rock, we always fed off of each other. The twins (Bianca and Lela) two of the strongest girls I know. Then, Violet and Eliza. I would be devastated if I made it out of the Games just to have any of them taken from me.

"I don't know." Lionel said. None of them really seemed to know.

"Can you send them a message? You have to make sure they're okay." I told Gage. I knew he could get it to them. He nodded his head. I thought about what Bryson had told me about Bianca, how smart and funny she can be. All of my sisters were strong, but I don't know if they could survive anything that President Cromwell throws at them. I hoped they would never have to find out. They started talking again; I tuned them out.

"I have a question." I stated in the middle of Lionel and Damien talking. Not caring what they were talking about.

"Why did you react the way you did when you saw him?" I asked Cordelia. Her eyes met mine. All the guys looked at her.

"Act like what?" She asked.

"Now you're the bad liar." I stated. "Your hands immediately went into fists and the look in your eye looked like you were about to pounce on him and start beating him. Don't get me wrong, I would have liked to see it, especially after what he said after me, but why?" I asked her.

Cordelia's nostrils flared as she took a deep breath. She looked at the others.

"He took away the one thing I wanted most. That's all I'm saying." She admitted.

"What was it?" I asked, curiosity got the best of me.

"I'm not sharing that with you. Nor will anyone else." She threatened the rest of her fellow Victors. This, of course, only made me want to know more. They exchanged looks and I saw a sadness fill Lionel's eyes. I rubbed my eyes and simultaneously yawned at the same time. I put my head down on Gage's shoulder. While they started talking about training tactics for tomorrow.

"Could you pay attention?" Cordelia snapped at me.

"I'm exhausted. You are the ones that barged into my room. It's not like I'm really even involved or being included in this lovely meeting your conducting. You are all just talking about what I should do, what I shouldn't do, how I should act, what might happen tomorrow, what may happen in the Games. Honestly, _you_ can have this little meeting in one of your rooms while _I _sleep." I stated.

Before I knew it Cordelia's hands were wrapped around my throat. Since I was nearly sleeping, it took a minute for my senses to kick in. I punched her. It didn't loosen her grip around my throat. She was digging her nails into my skin now. I grabbed her by her hair and threw her where I was sitting. I grabbed her head and as hard as I could slammed her head into the wall. It must have discombobulated her long enough for her to loosen her grip. Gage ripped me away from her. He was holding me back; knowing I wanted to go back after her. He had snaked his hands under my armpits and locked his hands behind my neck. I could flail my arms all I wanted but I couldn't slap him to let me go. Damien and Lionel had to control Cordelia. Her eyes were wild with rage. She reminded me of a junkyard dog, seething at the mouth. This is what she must have been like in her Games.

I was surprised at Lionel, out of everyone. Gage was the youngest Victor, and seemingly obvious the strongest. Damien was more the calculated one. It was Lionel who literally close-lined her and grabbed her before she could react again. I'm not really sure where that came from. He went from being a mild-mannered, graying, older man to nearly body slamming a girl, more than half his age.

"Get her out of here." Gage yelled. Lionel grabbed her by the neck and dragged her out of the room. Once the door was shut, Gage released me. Damien just stood by the door.

"What is wrong with her?" I screamed.

"You can't say stuff like that," Damien started.

"Say what? I didn't call her a crazy bitch even though that's what she is. I told her I didn't see the point in this. I'm tired, I want to sleep; well, I did before all this anyway. You don't need me to have a conversation about me, you all weren't even talking with me or to me. You should have just let me pass out." I snapped.

"You need to calm down." Damien told me.

"Oh please," I rolled my eyes at him. I was now by the mirror, surveying the damage Cordelia had caused. She really had dug her nails to the point where it would bruise before morning. Maybe Calypso could work some magic to get rid of the red marks and bruising.

"You should calm down." Gage said, looking in the mirror, as well.

"Don't you start too," I told him. Damien gave me a cup of water. It hurt to swallow. I touched my neck tenderly. I handed the cup back to Damien while still looking at the wounds in the mirror.

"I am surprised at how quickly you fought back." Damien said.

"For someone half asleep on my shoulder, you punched her, almost as soon as her hands were around your neck." Gage added.

"You think well on your feet, that's a good thing." Damien stated. "It should really help you in the Games."

"Just go," I paused. "Both of you, I'm tired." I sighed. The two started for the door.

"You want to go check on Cor?" Gage asked Damien.

"Check on her? What for?" I asked with a huff.

"You did smash her head into the wall. It is possible you gave her a concussion." Gage stated.

"Good." I replied. Without another word (thankfully), Damien left.

"You going to be okay?" Gage asked me. I could tell he was trying to be considerate and that he was concerned. Most times he acted like this, I found it adorable. Now, I found it annoying.

"I'm fine." I shook off his hand on my shoulder. He awkwardly crossed the room, for the door.

"Damien knows." I said, sitting on my bed, Indian-style.

"Knows what?"

"He knows." I repeated.

"About us," I mouthed. If Damien pulled me into the bathroom and turned the shower on for people not to hear, then I certainly was not going to let the cat out of the bag.

"Oh," He said, surprised.

"Talk to him about that." I told him.

"Right. Get some sleep minnow." He said opening the door.

"You too shark," I called as he left the room.


	12. Part 1 Training Center

_**A/N: *I know it is has been forever seen I last updated. I'm apologize but I have had a hard time lately. One of my family members has been diagnosed with cancer and has been going through chemo and it is had been really hard for everyone. I have been working on the story off and on when I get time. This chapter is longer than most and I actually broke it up into two chapters. You won't get the chariots in this chapter, but before you start throwing tomatoes, you get to see the personalities of a couple of the tributes that will end up being important later on in the story. Enjoy! Xoxo***_

As I lay in bed, I let my mind wonder. I didn't want to kill Bryson. I _really_ did not want to be the one that had to kill him. I also don't want to die. It would be easy to just not put up fight in the Cornucopia and go easily. If I died, the only person it would be easier on is me. My sisters and mother couldn't survive. Moira could only do so much. Mom was at an all-time low. Moira would have to raise our sisters alone, while helping mom.

What about Gage? My mind started to wonder. Would he miss me? I pushed it from my thoughts. I could ask him to help my girls, I'm sure he would. From all the footage we watched today, it really was the easiest way to go; dying in the Cornucopia was fast and almost painless. The longer the Games went on, the more painful and horrifying your end would be. I made a vow to myself not to be the brutal killer at the end, who played and toyed with their other prey as so many did. If I was going to be one of the last tributes in the Arena, I didn't want to be one of those crazy, blood-thirsty tributes.

When I woke up, Bravo and Calypso were shuffling around pushing various clothes around my room. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and sat up. Bravo was holding up something that had blue scales on it.

"If that's what you're putting me in tonight, I'd rather go naked." I stated.

"Well good morning sunshine." Bravo stated. "The sequence on it will make your eyes really pop out."

"Look, I've seen the whole 'fish' thing done. In fact, that's all the designers seem to do for my district. Look, do whatever you need to do, but don't make me look like a fish tonight." I told the two of them. Calypso smiled.

"You may want to get up, Sleeping Beauty, if you don't want to look like a mess in front of all the other tributes." Calypso told me. As comfortable as the bed was, I knew she was right. I crawled out of bed.

"Damien and Gage told us that something happened last night and you'd need us this morning to fix you up. Let's see it, then." Bravo said. I pushed my chin up so he could get a clear look at my throat.

"Oh my," Was his response.

"Don't ask," I said before they could question how I got it. The two of them worked their magic on me.

"Here are your regulation training clothes." Calypso said, handing me a dark grey pair of leggings, a black tank top and a grey, zip-up jacket. On the right hand side of the jacket it had the Panem seal on it. On the left hand side, as well as the right side of the sleeve there was a bright yellow 4. I'm guessing Bryson had a similar jumpsuit. I slid them on and assessed myself in the mirror while Bravo was doing my hair. You couldn't even tell that Cordelia wrapped her hands around my neck and dug her fingernails into it last night.

I watched in the mirror as Bravo slicked back my hair into a ponytail. He braided a small section and wrapped it around the elastic band that held my hair in one place. He stuck a couple of pins in it to make it stay.

"There she is, the golden girl of District 4." Calypso said. There was a knock at the door, Damien came in.

"I hope you are ready, it's time to eat then go to training." He stated. Bravo put some finishing touches on me and the four of us went out the door. Damien led us to the breakfast area.

"Don't do anything to provoke Cordelia." Damien told me. My eyes went wide. How could he tell me not to do anything to provoke her?

"Excuse me, I'm the one going in the Games, should you be telling her not to attack me?" I fired back. He glared at me as we arrived at the breakfast area.

I was right, Bryson was in the same grey suit with yellow details. I sat down in the open chair, to my left was Bryson. Damien purposely sat next to me, making sure Cordelia was the further one away from me. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

"How did everyone sleep last night?" Bryson asked, innocently enough.

"Funny you should ask. Ow," I started. Damien pinched my leg. I swear if everyone was going to keep attacking me, I was going to snap and kill someone before the Games even started.I was glaring at Damien. He shot me a look that told me I needed to keep my mouth shut. I looked at Cordelia, who said nothing. I couldn't read her expression.

"What?" Bryson asked.

"Funny you should ask," I paused. "Because I fell asleep watching that old footage last night," I finished. Out the corner of my eye I could tell Gage was starting at me.

"How'd you sleep?" I asked Bryson, ignoring everyone else.

"Good, I can't believe at how soft the bed is." He said.

"Yeah," I said, nibbling on a piece of bacon. The prep team talked about the party they were at last night, that I clearly had no interest in. Gage had tiny circles under his eyes.

"So, Gage, why do you look so tired?" I asked bluntly.

"I actually didn't get a lot of sleep last night." He replied.

"Why's that?" Bryson asked. I was glad it came from him and not me. If it had, I already know Gage would have shot me one of his 'don't-bother-asking-I'm-not-going-to-tell-you-anyways' looks.

"Out late partying?" I joked.

"Actually, I went to four different parties last night." Gage said. I was stunned. Gage never went to parties. He had once told me he thought they were too stuffy and that women threw themselves at him, in the most disgusting ways. I tried to play off my confusion and shock as curiosity.

"Why would you go to that many parties?" Bryson said, with obvious distain.

"I have a job to do. The more parties I go, the more money I can get for the two of you. That means we can send you more things and hopefully keep you alive longer." He said, shoveling more food in his mouth.

"Oh, well, thank you." Bryson said. Gage was sacrificing to save us. I couldn't look at him, I knew I had been short with him over the last couple of days and here he was trying to help. After eating a fair amount I was just playing with the food leftover on my plate.

"If you two are ready, shall we go to the Training Center?" Lionel asked.

"We shall." Bryson answered, getting up. I followed his lead and got up. Damien and Gage made sure Cordelia and I didn't get close to one another. Whatever, it's not like I would attack her again (that is unless she attacked me first). Our team crammed onto the elevator together.

"Any advice?" I asked them.

"You want to get in good with the Careers."

"Start at separate stations. Meet for your third one and discuss."

"Go to the plant station, it'll tell you what the arena will hold and it'll give us a huge hint how to prepare." I looked at Damien.

"That may be the smartest thing that's come out of your mouth." I told him.

"That's how I won." He said, shrugging his shoulders. I faintly remember Gage telling me that Damien won because so many other tributes died because of eating poisonous animal-mutations and plants. Bryson slid his hand into mine. How was I going to protect him? I remembered the vow I made myself last night.

"You don't have to get together at a station unless you both end up there. Meet back together at lunch." Gage said.

"Go learn to do something you don't know much about. You don't know when you may have to use it." Cordelia stated. I took all of the things they said in. The doors opened and I stepped out of the elevator. Bryson took his hand away from mine as he too stepped out. We started to walk down a hall. We turned right but I noticed that Gage and Lionel weren't following us. I stopped.

"We're not going in training with you." Gage said. My heart sped up; I had always done better when he was there, with me. If I knew Gage was with me, I would be more relaxed, more able to showcase my abilities or in this case hide some of them.

"We will be watching you though." Lionel added. I nodded my head and turned back around. As Bryson and I followed Cordelia and Damien, I slid my hand into his. It was just nerves, I knew he was feeling anxious and terrified and just so overwhelmed, just like me. I knew that's why he had grabbed my hand in the elevator.

Damien stopped outside two blue double doors. He turned around to face us.

"This is it." He started.

"You are Careers whether you want to believe it or not. People know you are dangerous; they know you both have training. I know you each have your own strategy but you have to remember people are always watching you. I won't check in with you at lunch, but I do recommend you two talk then." Damien said.

"We'll see you when you finish training at two." Cordelia said.

"Why so early?" I asked, curious.

"We have to get you ready for the chariot rides." She stated. I rolled my eyes.

"I don't want to look like a damn fish. Can you please make them understand that?" I asked. Bryson chuckled.

"What? Do you want to look like a fish?" I asked him.

"I see your point."

"It's time," Damien said. I squeezed Bryson's hand before letting it fall. Damien opened one door, Cordelia the other.

"Here we go," I said, looking to Bryson. He met my glance and then we walked forward.

"How do you want to play this?" He asked me, as we walked. Other tributes were coming to focus. I tried to correct my posture the best I could.

"I don't know about you, but I'm the best damn thing here." I said, a smirk playing on my lips. He laughed. When we arrived in the middle of the room, where the other tributes were, I know exactly what we looked like: two confident young tributes, arrogant and calm about the Games, so much so that we were actually joking.

I immediately noticed the guy from 1 checked me out. I remembered his name was Gunner. I didn't hesitate to look him up-and-down.. If based on looks alone, he could easily win this. He was easily a solid foot-plus taller than me. I'll admit it, he was gorgeous. He had a chiseled jaw line and prominent cheek bones. I'd have a crush on him if he was from 4. He smiled at me.

There came a scoff from the girl next to him, with the stupid name, Glitter. Really, who names their kid Glitter? I wanted to punch her parents just for naming her that. She had walnut-brown colored hair that was long. Her large-hazel eyes took their time sizing me up. She showed no sign of her opinion of me, on her face. She really was ready for this. I wish somebody else kills her before the two of us tangle. It would be a nasty fight if the two of us met, I could tell just by the look she was giving me.

I have to admit, it was really awkward having us all just stand there. Seeing as how Bryson and I showed up late, all eyes were on us. The boy from 10 was even bigger in person, than he was in the footage. If I thought Gunner could win it based on physical brute strength alone, this kid could give him a run for his money. The girl from 3, who was putting on an 'I'm-smart' attitude, looked like she had a trick or two up her sleeve. You can never count anyone from 3 out, give them anything with technology, we all may as well be as good as dead. I turned to Bryson.

"I wonder if they'll have us jump through hoops." I told him.

"Maybe, then after that, make us swim a lap and do it again." He replied. The two of us were mocking the training we had back home, at school. In school, once a week, this is how they would train us for the Games. We both smiled and chuckled at it.

"Welcome Tributes!" A voice boomed in the room. I looked to my right to see Artimus Potestas. He is the Head Gamemaker this year, which means he is the person responsible for whatever hell awaits us.

"This year, there will be twists and surprises at every corner for the Games. We are excited to have you all here and eager to make this the best Games Panem has ever had. Over the next several hours you are free to use as many stations as you choose. There will be a bell that sounds for lunch, after you are finished eating, you will come back here to train more. Welcome to the Training Center." I wanted to rip the hoop earring out of his eyebrow. If I killed the Head Gamemaker, could the Games go on? I pondered the repercussions I would face, as he walked away in a blood red suit.

"I'm going over to play with the axes. What about you?" Bryson asked. I thought it over. We didn't need to stick together; we could talk about it at lunch. Where would I go for my first station?

"Snares," I concluded. I knew how to set up simple ones but I wanted a better knowledge.

"See you at lunch?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"See you then," He replied, walking away. I walked over to the snare station. I was the first one there. The 'expert' was impressed with my basic training. I silently thanked Gage for that. This expert guy taught me a couple of more advanced things to try. I was sitting Indian-style on the ground, twisting and turning wires to the best of my ability with just my hands. I was concentrating so much, I had heard someone come next to me, but didn't realize it the flower-girl from 6. The expert showed her the basic skills of how to make a snare. She was quick with her hands, and studied everything.

"You don't look like a morphling addict, but I could be wrong." I was straight and to the point. This was the girl who acted scared and innocent in front of the cameras, but her eyes gave her away. She was already a player in this game, as soon as her name was called. I wanted to rile up a response from her to see what she was made of.

"You look like the typical tanned, stuck-up, princess from 4, but I could be wrong." She retorted. I smiled. We sat together, not speaking, working on our snares. She learned fast and quickly excelled past me. When her partner from 6 came over I left.

I went over to the first aid station and brushed up on a couple of skills. Since I was always getting scrapes, bruises and injured, Moira learned to take care of me. When she wasn't around, or I was in a pinch, I patched myself up. I didn't spend much time at all at that station.

I went to the archery station next. I missed a lot of my marks. I tried to imagine Gage being there, whispering to me, and making me laugh. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I shot the arrow, it didn't even land on the target. This was probably the worst that I had ever done and I was failing at it. Not only that, but I was on display for everyone else to watch. I pulled back the string and released the arrow. It missed the mark completely. I was getting really frustrated.

"You're holding it wrong." A male voice said. I looked to my left and saw the boy from 8.

"What?" I asked, curious.

"The guy told me to hold it like this." I told him.

"Do you want to listen to some idiot that's probably never killed anything with a bow and arrow, or do you want to let me help you?" He asked. His eyes reminded me of my father's, they were a dark grey color. He was half a foot taller than me. He came over and repositioned my arm so it was lower on the string part. He brought the bow so it was almost at my eye-level.

"Now pull back, aim, and let go." He instructed me. I did what he said and hit the center of my mark. I looked at him.

"That's all you need to do." He said, like it was no big deal.

"How long have you used a bow and arrow?" I asked him, curious and completely intrigued. I watched him hit a dead-on bull's-eye.

"Since I was eight; by the look of things, you've just started?" He asked.

"Not my first time with it. I wish I could say I was faking this, but I'm not." I admitted, making an excuse. I grabbed another arrow.

"Bring the bow up to your cheek. Line the arrow up with your eyesight." I readjusted myself and let the arrow go. I hit the yellow center part of the target! I smiled.

"Liam."

"What?" I asked, looking at him. He hit another perfect mark.

"My name is Liam," He told me.

"Tatum," I replied. He shot another perfect mark.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked him, intrigued. He shrugged his broad shoulders.

"I guess, because if we go in that Arena and you have to use that bow and arrow, I'd rather have you shoot to kill then only harm whoever you're aiming for." Liam paused.

"It's more humane that way." I was surprised at his response. His words echoed the very ones I had last night. He loaded another arrow.

"I completely agree." I said, loading up my own arrow. It was a direct hit. I decided I had spent enough time at stations I was actually learning stuff in, not to mention Liam had thrown me off my guard. I hadn't expected someone to think like I had. Just because we were being forced to play the Capitol's game, didn't mean we had to be brutal, blood-thirsty killers.

"Ever think how easy it'd be to just die in the Cornucopia?" He asked. Okay, this was scary. He was stealing my thoughts. I stared at him. He sighed and hit another mark. I stood there speechless.

"It'd be too easy." I said, dropping the bow and arrow. I walked away. I couldn't get him out of my head. There was another person here that was thinking the exact same things as me. We were being put in play to kill each other.

I walked directly over to the trident station. I picked up the trident and instantly felt more at ease. There was a grunt and something hit the floor, hard. I looked back at the hand-to-hand combat station. Gunner had leveled one of the trainers provided for us. I paid him no more attention and went back to my trident.

I wound my arm back and launched it as hard as I could. It hit the dummy so hard that the whole thing fell over. I walked over to retrieve the weapons. When I walked back to my spot, I realized I had just stolen away all of Gunner's attention. Good. Let them know I am a forced to be reckoned with. Let them know I refuse to go down easily in this. I hit every target thrown my way. I didn't care if anyone was watching or not. Why not show off this one aspect? If I hit the knife station later, I would purposely miss and seem naïve to a lot of it. Everyone from 4 was assumed to be good with tridents.

The pair from 2 came up. Onyx, like the stone and Leo, like the lion, I remembered. I kept my own pace. It didn't surprise me when they already knew how to hold a trident properly. Their district was the pet of the Capitol and they had access to anything they wanted, of course they were trained with every weapon. I ignored the pair until she launched her trident and hit the target I was working with. I sighed and turned to them.

"Alright, you have my attention." I told them.

"You're pretty good with that." He stated.

"I imagine you are too," I replied.

"We all have that one weapon that we specialize in." The girl stated.

"You tell me yours, I'll tell you mine." I said, smiling.

"I think it's pretty clear what yours is." He said. It looked like he merely tossed the trident and it hit the closest mark. Of course, he was good at it.

"So you know mine, your turn to share." The three of us retrieved our weapons.

"Sword," he replied.

"Leo," She snapped.

"What?" He asked shrugging it off. It was clear that Onyx wanted to be the leader of the two of them. She threw her trident but fell short of the middle target. I launched mine and smiled, knowing it would hit the target she was going for, dead on. We walked to retrieve them again. I picked hers up and handed it to her.

"Tsk, can't win 'em all." I told her in a friendly voice before picking mine up. Leo's dark blonde curls shook from his laugh. She marched back to the spot. I said to prove a point. There was one winner to this game, the rest of us were going to die. By throwing at her target and nailing it, I put the nail in the coffin; I am superior than you at using this weapon. By purposely using a friendly, light-hearted tone, it kept it so it wasn't a direct threat, more of a gentle warning. Yes, the Careers were going to be a pack, but they had to know I was dangerous.

"Are we going to do this?" She asked annoyed.

"Bryson comes with us." I declared, I said hitting the furthest mark. The bell for lunch sounded. I left the trident in the mark. Leo and Onyx started to walk away from me.

"Snares and spears," She called over her shoulder. I met Bryson in the middle of the Training Center and we walked to the cafeteria area. We grabbed trays and even though we were practically drooling over all the delicious food they had put out, reminded him that we could order food later. We still had to train. We grabbed plates and sat at a table by ourselves.

"Who'd you talk to?" I asked before shoving some type of noodles in my mouth with a white sauce over it.

"We're a lock with 1, and they want the two from 3."

"2 wants us," I told him.

"You going to chew?" I asked him, as he was just shoveling food in his mouth. He slowed down.

I moved my hand to itch my nose.

"I want the Liam, the boy from 8." I announced with my hand in front of my mouth.

"Why's that?" He asked surprised.

"He helped me at the archery station."

"Just because someone helped you shoot an arrow doesn't mean we should pair up with him." Bryson instructed me.

"It was more than that. When I asked him why he was helping me he said, he'd rather I know how to use a kill shot than just hurt someone. It's more humane that way." I stated. There was silence from my partner's end.

"Listen, you can make a pack with anyone else but I want Liam. I don't care, I want him." I stated. He didn't push it. My word was final in this. I would fight him on this. I hoped he understood why I wanted to bring Liam. There was a couple of minutes of silence.

"What stations did you go to?" Bryson asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Snares, first aid, archery and trident," I told him, I chewed a piece of chicken.

"What about you?"

"Swords, plants, and hand-to-hand combat," He said while in the middle of chewing a piece of bread.

"What's the plant station like?" I asked.

"There's a lot. I think I'm going to go back after lunch." He said. Oh man, I better pay attention, I thought.

"Guy from 2 loves swords, girl loves snares and spears." I told him.

"What? How'd you find that out?" He was surprised.

"Bryson I have my ways," I said, sitting up straight with a grin on my face. He raised his eyebrow.

"The guy, Leo told me. They came over while I was playing with the tridents. They figured out my best skill, so I told them it was only fair for them to tell me theirs." I explained.

"She definitely wants to be in charge, so watch for her." I told him.


	13. Part II Training Center & Chariots

_***A/N at the end this time***_

Part 2: Training Center and Chariots

We finished eating and chatted about other possible strategies we could work out. It was for sure going to be the Careers. Districts 1, 2 and 4, that's six of us. I wanted Liam from 8, that would make seven of us. The pair from 1 wanted the two from 3. Oh geez, that makes nine of us total. That's a lot of people, I mean a lot, a lot. Careers were from 1, 2 and 4, everyone knew that. Occasionally, they would take in one or two from 3. If Gunner and Glitter wanted the two from 3 so badly, they would have to take Liam, or I was out.

The bell rang. Lunch was up. Avoxes came to take our trays, I smiled at mine, remembering the girls that had helped me so far. I went to the plant station. I knew the common plants back in 4, Moira and I would make our own rubs and lotions or we'd make gels when we didn't have money to spend on medicine. So, like I said, I had a common knowledge of plants in 4, whatever the heck there was at this station, I had never seen before. I felt like I had just seen a person from the Capitol before, confused, overwhelmed, a little scared and just a tad amused. I easily recognized the plants that I had seen from home. I smiled, it seemed a bit of home was coming into the Arena. The girl from 3 came over.

"Wow, those are a cumbersome amount of plants and flowers." She stated. I raised an eyebrow. Did she mean that there were a lot of plants at the station? I was amused with a certain flower. It was in bloom but when you tried to touch it, closed itself tight into a bud again.

"Is there a way to get it to bloom and still touch it?" I asked the man.

"One, but it is very tricky. You almost have to full the flower into,"

"What's this one?" The girl interrupted, plopping herself to my left. She brazenly picked up a long, white looking stick. I rolled my eyes at her. It was quite literally a common stick that could be used when dried for a fire. Why on earth did 1 want her? I had to remind myself that their district was known for being brilliant with electronics.

"You're Tack, right?" She asked. I looked to my right and realized she was talking to me.

"Tatum," I corrected her.

"Oh, I'm Olivia." She stated. I forced a smile, while trying to figure out how to get the little bit of nectar from the plant without it closing up to a bud again. I grabbed the plant and started to slowly peel back the petals of the flower, one-by-one. It seemed to be working, the flower was letting me peal back layer after layer, carefully and slowly.

"I think you're doing it wrong, can I try?" She asked. I sighed and passed her the flower. She grabbed it and went to rip off the petals. She let out a small scream. Ripping off all the petals at once had sent a shock through her entire body. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I knew I was on to something, slowly pealing the layers back. The expert stood up and started to guide Olivia over to the First Aid station, even he shot me a look that said 'how-stupid-is-this-girl'? I smiled.

"So what does this flower's nectar do?" I asked the other expert sitting there.

"It will heal almost any type of wound. You can also eat it and it will sustain you for an entire day." He stated. I took a mental note of this flower.

"Does it come in any other color?"

"You have to be careful. This purple one is the most powerful and will hold you over the longest. If you ever find a red one it's poisonous, I would highly recommend not even touching it. Blue ones are rare but they have the most healing power." The guy stated. He showed me other plants. I learned how to make pastes with crushed up plants and a little bit of water, which ones to eat, which ones to avoid. A little while after Olivia the boy from 1 wondered over.

"What happened to Olivia?" He asked, observing me, rolling up a leaf from one of the plants.

"She burned herself or electrocuted herself, one of the two." I said, ignoring him. Once the leaf was folded, I rubbed it in between my middle finger and thumb and it started to omit smoke. I smiled as I handed it to the expert.

"You seriously want that girl in our alliance?" I asked him, bluntly, turning to look at him. He smiled at my brazenness.

"Yes, and Olivia and * are already a part of our alliance." He stated as-a-matter-a-factly.

"Well in that case so are Bryson and Liam." I dished it right back out.

"That's nine people." He stated.

"I'm glad you can count, and I hope you didn't promise anyone else spots in this alliance or else it's going to be one big happy Hunger Games." I responded.

"Gunner," He said, sticking out his hand.

"Tatum," I replied, taking it and shaking. His grey eyes gave nothing away.

"Are you going to sit down and join me?" I asked him. He sat down. As we both tried to weave different plants into different things, we made small talk. I really wanted to find his weak spot, the one thing I could possibly do or use to get an edge on him in the Games. For some reason we worked out the details of the group, it would be the nine of us, which really was quite a lot for the Careers.

"So why the two from 3?" I asked.

"So why the dude from 10?" He asked.

"I want him on my side." I stated simply.

"We have no clue what the Arena's going to be like, if it has anything to do with electronic anything, we need them. If not, keep them around until they aren't useful anymore." He told me. Gunner was not afraid to kill, but didn't seem to want to waste a life. We chatted for a while when Glitter came over.

"Are you trying to steal my district partner?" She asked me. I couldn't tell if she was kidding or not.

"Hey, we're all on the same team." I told her.

"So what is it you can do for our alliance?" She asked.

"Why don't you tell me, Glitter?" I had a little bit of a hard time saying her name with a straight face. She looked back at me with a stone face. I looked at Gunner.

"Listen, we're Careers. We're expected to stick together. Odds are you're pretty good with more than one of these weapons here in this room. Odds are saying, so am I. Don't try to act like you weren't scoping me out at the trident area. I've known how to use one since I was three years old, and I'm one of the best fishermen in 4." I admitted. I looked at Gunner, remembering how he had all eyes on him after leveling one of the trainers/experts on the mats from earlier.

"Swords and hand-to-hand combat," He told me. We both looked at Glitter even though Gunner knew what her specialty was. She glared at Gunner for a couple of seconds.

"Bow and arrows," She said. I nodded. The bell went off again. The three of us stood up.

"Any idea of what you are wearing tonight?" I asked.

"Something shiny, with lots of jewels probably." Glitter guessed.

"Whatever they put me in," Gunner replied.

"What about you?" She asked me, apparently deciding this was a safe topic. I sighed.

"They are probably going to dress me like a damn fish," Gunner laughed. The two of them walked towards the doors while I found Bryson. Cordelia came to get us and led us to the elevator. The tension between us was gone but it was still slightly awkward. When the doors opened on our floor, we were met with the other Victors and the Prep Teams. I was grabbed by Calypso and Bravo, immediately.

"Here's the plan, scrub them both down. We're doing Base Plan 2 for him. We're going to scrub Tate down to Base Plan 4 and see if we want to vamp her up from there." Bravo announced.

"Don't I get a say in how I look?" I asked.

"Oh darling, that's adorable that you think that." Calypso said, pushing me to my room.

"Skye, Epsilon with Bryson. We have the most work with Tate so I'm going with her. We have our hands full with her." Bravo said.

"What do you mean you have your hands full with me?" I asked. Calypso shoved me in the room. Bravo grabbed my arm and led me to the bathroom, where I was stripped down and thrown in the shower.

"Do whatever you need to do, but don't make me look like a fish." I called to them. I was scrubbed at least twice and then patted dry; I was waxed again, which did not hurt any less.

"How do you feel about your hair?" Bravo asked as they were drying it with machines.

"I love it. Don't touch it." I said, wary of what they were planning.

"I want to add a couple of other golden highlights. We're going to add extra hair for volume and dye the tips of it a couple of different colors." Bravo explained. I grabbed my hair out of their hands.

"I like my hair the way it is." I said, defensively.

"We're going to add fake hair to create more volume. We're going to dye the ends of the fake hair. We want to make the bottom of your hair look like a sunset fading on the sea back in District 4." Calypso explained.

"It will look amazing, if you don't think so we'll change it." Bravo told me. I thought it over for a minute.

"It's just hair." I said a loud.

It took them two hours to do my hair. There were three of them working on it the entire time. I sat in my bathroom, letting them poke and pull my hair wearing only a robe. Calypso started applying other lotions to my skin. After she was done she started on my face and applying makeup.

"Seriously, don't make me look like a fish." I begged her. She smirked.

"How was training?" Calypso asked.

"Alright, I guess. We have our alliance. I'm not thrilled with it, but it's what expected." I replied.

"What do you mean?" She asked, interested.

"Have you ever met someone that you know you don't like? Or get a feeling that something won't end well? I have that feeling about a couple of these kids." I told her.

"Those are important feelings; you need to listen to them." Bravo chimed in.

"Stay on your guard around those tributes." Calypso told me. I took a deep breath.

"It's just all becoming real." I admitted. The room got silent and everyone stopped working.

"Get back to work." It was silent for ten minutes while everyone finished working. At one point, Damien walked in and said we had to break for dinner. Half of my hair was sticking up on top of my head I had fake hair almost down to my butt. Apparently the lotion had to dry on my skin so I wasn't allowed to put on more clothes; instead they gave me white slippers to walk around in, along my pink fluffy robe. I was not allowed to look in the mirror, or any mirror for that matter, until the Prep Team was done. When we got to the eating area, I got interesting looks from everyone. I sat next to Bryson and across from Gage.

"Seriously, what do I look like?" I asked the two of them.

"Your hair is interesting." Gage stated. That was less than helpful.

"It almost look like your skin is glowing, it's all glowing and has shimmery stuff on it." Bryson said.

"Your skin's golden and glowing. Any chance you know what you're wearing?" I asked. He shook his head.

"They knew you'd try to get him to cough it up so they've kept it under wraps until the last minute." Gage admitted.

"Don't let them dress us up as fish." I sighed. No one wanted to listen to me. We explained what had happened during training to everyone. They seemed pleased with the alliance. I actually wasn't allowed to eat a lot because of my costume, neither was Bryson.

"Well this sucked." I said as we were pushed back to our rooms.

"We're on a time crunch people, Epsilon and Skye get him in his costume and come help with Tate. We need all hands on deck." Calypso said.

"Couldn't resist the ship joke, could you?" I asked her. The fake hair was dyed to match my original color and then cut. It took them another hour to weave and braid it. Calypso worked on my face in that time. Skye and Epsilon came in and started in with my hair. At one point, there were too many of them in there that Destiny went to get my outfit ready. Skye and Epsilon were kicked out as Bravo and Calypso finished reading me. He pulled a giant braid to the front of my right side. It hung down below my boob. I went to touch my head for the first time but he swatted my hand away.

"Don't touch it." He commanded. Destiny brought in my outfit. The moment I saw glitter and shiny material I opened my mouth.

"Shut your mouth." Bravo said. I looked at Calypso.

"I'm with him." She stated. The removed the robe and held up a tight looking thing. The held it up to my chest and pulled tightly from behind. They were putting me into a corset. It was so tight, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to breathe. I voiced this concern.

"You don't have to breath, you just have to hold on to the chariot and look like perfection." Calypso said. They were ridiculously serious about their jobs. Destiny was sewing me into a long skirt covered in golden sequence. It was actually a nude color but the golden sequences painted designs everywhere. The corset was also a nude color but had golden silk and blue designed weaved through it. It also had freshwater pearls stitched into it. Once they were done, they stepped back and assessed me.

"Make the train on the skirt an inch shorter, we don't want it to get caught in the wheels." Bravo noted. Destiny went to trimming it.

"How am I supposed to walk in this?" I asked, having it be a genuine concern.

"Very small steps,"

"Here put these on." They were golden high heels. I sighed; high heels were never something that I loved.

"Time to go!" Epsilon said coming into the bathroom.

"Wow. Doll, you look incredible." He stated.

"Can I see myself yet?" I asked, eager and curiosity mixed with a little dread.

"This will be your introduction to the entire country. We need you to really make a splash." Bravo stated.

"You too with the sea jokes?" I asked; he smiled. It was nice to see he did have a sense of humor. I went to pull the towel off of the mirror.

"We don't have time, we have to get down there." Calypso stated, pulling me out of the bathroom. I struggled in the heels. The main longue area of my room was filled with everyone, they were waiting on me. It had been noisy but now everyone was silent. I could not even gage reactions but we were all escorted out of the room. It wasn't until we were in the elevator where anyone would listen to me again.

"You look gorgeous." Bryson replied. He was wearing a golden pair of shorts, but he had blue designs all over his body.

"It's just paint," he told me. It really reminded me of the waves of the sea coming in and out. He had a golden sash on.

"Damnit, they dressed me up as a fish, didn't they?" I whispered, not amused.

"Look for yourself," He said looking up. I looked up at the mirrored ceiling I got a little glimpse of myself. It didn't look like me at all. This girl looking at me was fierce, sexy, captivating. I was amazed, and I hadn't even seen my entire look. We got down to the basement and walked along several corridors. The other Careers were already by their horses and carriages. I saw Onyx look at me and her eyes fill with jealous. Our Prep Team left us to go take their seats for the chariot rides, not without Bravo giving me precise details no one was to lay a finger on my hair. It was only Damien and Cordelia that stayed.

"You have one last thing to complete your outfits." Cordelia said, Damien went around the corner and brought out the most incredible looking trident I had even seen. I looked at Bryson and both of us were agape. It was changing from blue to golden and back again. It was hand detailed with designs matching those covering Bryson and my corset. Damien handed it over to us.

"Bryson you are to me on the left, Tate you on the right. The trident should go in the middle of you." Damien instructed us.

"Both of you are to hold onto it. In case you haven't figured it out we want you to look like you rule the seas, you are in control. You can look amused, but not the whole time. We want you to exuberate confidence and power more so than anything." Cordelia stated. I nodded my head. They left us to go take their seats.

"They dressed you up as a mermaid, but they don't have a tail on you. I heard them talking in your room. They were sick of the whole 'fish' thing, finally. They wanted to play with the ocean and how powerful it can be. I'm supposed to be the God of the Sea and instead of looking like a mermaid; they wanted you to look like a siren." Bryson explained.

"Mermaids and sirens are pretty close to each other." I stated.

"Hey, if you started singing to me, I'd probably follow you to my death." He joked. He laughed and made me laugh in return. We were told it was time to mount our chariots. Two black horses pulled out chariot.

"You have to help me get in." I told Bryson. He stared at me.

"Destiny literally sewed me into this skirt, I can't move. And with this corset, I'm afraid if I take a deep breath my boobs are going to burst out of it." I admitted to him in a low voice.

"I doubt any male here would have an issue with that. He had to help pick me up to put me in the chariot. He handed me the trident and got in next to me. There were people there to prep us one last time. The guy went to adjust my hair. I bobbed out of his way.

"Don't touch my hair." I threatened him. He sneered, fixed the train on my skirt and left.

Horns sounded. Our horses were lined up by district. We were in between 3, which the two of them were dressed in some awkward wire looking costumes. It looked like they were rolled in electrical tape and wires. Behind us, was the pair from 5, who I'm not even sure what their costumes were. Their district was known for power but I didn't get it. One was in a dark grey outfit with yellow bits splashed all over him and she was in a yellow outfit with grey bits over her.

The horn sounded again. This time, the chariot from District 1 started to head out. Once they were in sight, the crowd erupted into cheers and applause. Two minutes later the chariot for 2 went out. 3 followed two minutes later. Our chariot was next, at the mouth of the arena/stage.

"Are you ready for this?" Bryson asked me, as we held hands.

"Remember what Damien and Cordelia told us." I said. We put the trident in between us. I grabbed it and he put his hand on top of mine. We wrapped out fingers around the cold, golden metal. We were each holding it, but feeling his hand made me feel more comfortable and I knew he felt the same. The horns sounded and our horses started to lurch forward.

"Here we go," I whispered. As we entered the arena I was instantly amazed at how big it was. I had never seen so many people gathered at one space in my life. Bryson and I looked at one another and smiled. We held our necks up high, proud that we were representing out districts. The audience roared with excitement as we passed them. I wanted to laugh at the people screaming for us who had never met us but I didn't for fear of spilling out of my top. We got to the stage and Bryson once again had to help me up. He didn't have to pick me up but he held my hand, giving me someone to lean on.

I wasn't sure why there was a stage this year. Or even why we got out of the chariots for that matter. Once every chariot had gotten to the stage we were taken behind the black curtain that blocked the audience view of us. We were informed that we would be pushed up on stage and introduced to the crowd. We would strike a pose and then be lowered so the next district could be introduced. Once all 12 districts were introduced we would enter our chariots and go back. After that, we would be dismissed for the night. My stomach growled it was hungry. The two from 1 went up first, followed by 2. When the pair from 1 came down, the two from 3 were loaded up. We took 2's place on the lever.

"Stick out your chest, square your shoulders." I told him.

"Are we smiling?" I asked him, letting him choose.

"Let's give them a look to suggest we really could lore people into the sea."

"I like it." I put on a smile that would suggest I had a secret. I had used it on Gage a couple times. He said that it made me want to know what I was thinking. We got to the stage.

"From District 4 we have Bryson Fireside and Tatum Starlight." The announcer said. I gave my best look that I could think of. Bryson and I somehow made eye contact without moving our heads, using our peripheral vision and judging by the crowds' reaction, we knew we had it in the bag. 1, 2, and 3 hadn't had a reaction this big. As our podium went down we kept smiling. We laughed in the dark curtains before heading to our chariot again. It pulled us passed the crown one last time. I smiled knowing Bravo and Calypso would be the talk of the nation tomorrow. We were a hit and they were to thank for it.

_***A/N: I did not realize how long and how much detail I put into this chapter until I saw the final word count. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I had a very specific look in mind for Tate and it took me a long time to try to nail down. I actually based her look off of a couple of different things. I've been working like a crazy person on this story, and I'm trying to create as many twist and turns, as I can without it being completely over the top. Hit that little review button and tell me what you think! Up next we have interviews. Also, if you go to my profile I've uploaded Tate's hair/makeup/outfit inspiration for the chariot costume. Thank you for the support! xoxo*  
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	14. You look like a Warrior

"You look like a Warrior"

_***Hello, hello! I'm hopefully going to update again later today/tomorrow. Very excited about what's happening in the story. This has a lot of Tatum's thoughts and her debating with herself. Enjoy loves! Xoxo**_

Once we vanished behind the major black curtains, we were helped out of our chariot and then left to our own devices. Glitter sized me up. Her gown was silver and draped in hundreds of jewels. While she looked beautiful with her shining hair and smooth face, I knew that she and Gunner didn't hold a candle to Bryson and me. Our trident had made us powerful, and a long time ago, it had become a symbol for District 4. I don't know how Bravo and Calypso had found that out, but I know our district was proud of them and us tonight.

"Did you hear how loud they were for us?" Bryson asked me in a hushed tone. I smiled.

"I think they like us." I responded back to him. I tried to take a deep breath.

"Seriously, I can't breathe in this thing. Let's go back to one of our rooms, and eat an entire turkey or something." I told him.

"Sometimes I think you're a guy." He said.

"Yeah, I get that sometimes." While I liked dressing up in skirts and dresses from time-to-time, I was much more comfortable in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Liam came up to us. He took off a weird looking arrow hat.

"What are you supposed to be?" I asked. He was wearing what I can only describe as a Peacekeeper uniform on drugs with every fabric I'd ever seen.

"I don't even know. I have the worst designers." He admitted. Leo and Onyx came over. Their designers had put hidden golden colors in her hair that made it look like an onyx stone. How clever, I thought. We chatted for a while but I was getting tired and hungry.

"I'm going up to my room. I can't breathe in this thing." The guys laughed at me.

"Please, like you would last a minute in heels this tall and a corset this tight." I told the guys. That comment actually got a smile out of Onyx. I headed off towards the elevators.

When I got upstairs, I ordered a ton of food. I battled with the corset for a solid ten minutes until I admitted defeat, there was no way I could take it off myself. My food was nowhere in sight. I began to wonder the halls trying to find someone, not even an Avox was roaming the halls. I was desperate, I couldn't even find a knife to rip this damned thing off me.

The elevator dinged; this immediately caught my attention. Damien strolled off of it, rubbing the stubble on his chin.

"Damien!" I nearly yelled, I was so excited that I could now get out of this corset. He just looked over at me.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"Parties, talking to sponsors, working," He said. He sounded tired.

"I didn't realize that you guys would be doing so much work to help Bryce and me in the Games."

"Usually, the more money you have, the better off you are in the Games. We can usually keep you alive longer."

"Oh," I was realizing that was preparing for one of us to die. There were twenty-four of us that were going in, one coming out. You can't bring home both tributes from your district.

"You shouldn't worry. The two of you seem to be the fan favorites; it's going to make our work very easy. Just keep doing what you are doing." He paused.

"Why are you roaming the halls?" He asked, finally realizing that I was still in my chariot costume.

"I can't take off this damn thing by myself and no one has been around to help me. Can you please help me?" I begged him.

"Well come on, let's go to your room. No stripping in the middle of the hall for you." He sounded like a father, or at least an older brother. That made me smile. We walked to my room.

"So, I know that you can't bring us both home," I paused. He was working on unweaving the corset.

"And I really want to come home," I paused again. I tried to look at what was taking him so long.

"I don't know how the hell they did this." He commented, cursing the corset.

"But if it comes down to it, I won't kill Bryson." I told him. He stopped fumbling with the laces.

"I won't do it. He's from home, I refuse." I confessed.

"So, you're saying if it came down to the two of you, you would rather he kill you than kill him?"

"Yes." I determined.

"Okay, I can't get this. I'm cutting it off you. Don't move." He said. I heard him get out his pocket knife. With the flick of his hand, the back of the corset fell open. I held it to the front of me.

"Funny you should say that." He added, putting the knife back in his pocket. I turned around, while still holding the corset up, covering me.

"Why?" I asked. Damien was heading to the door.

"Bryce told Cordelia the same thing." Damien left my room. I smiled. Bryson and I wouldn't kill each other if it came down to it. It was oddly reassuring knowing this little bit of information.

I got up the next morning feeling oddly content. This was going to be my last full day in the Capitol, and possibly alive. I got up and put on the robe that my prep team was so apt to put me in. I stuck my feet in the comfy white slippers and wondered to the dining area; I was the only one there. I ordered some coffee, this would be a really long day and something told me the coffee would help. I was half a cup in before I saw a rough looking Bravo, stumble his way over.

"Good morning sunshine." I announced. He looked at me a flashed a wary smile. He grabbed a cup of coffee and sat at the table next to me. I curled my feet up to my chest.

"Thank you for last night." I told him.

"You are very much welcome. You didn't take down your hair last night." He said.

"I didn't know how to take it out, plus, it was pretty." I said smiling. Honestly, there were so many braids in it, I found it a daunting task and I had been tired.

"Did you stay out late, partying?" I inquired.

"Haven't gone to sleep yet," His reply made me smile. I finished my coffee in silence, seeing as how Bravo went back to his room, presumably to sleep. After I was done I went back to my room and stretched out my muscles. I didn't shower or anything seeing as how I would be scrubbed down later before interviews.

I sighed, wishing the Gamemakers had not have cut down the number of days we were in the Capitol. Typically today was a full day of training with interviews late tonight. Then, tomorrow would have been a lazy couple hours of training, time to impress the judges with our skills, our scores would come out and the day after we would go into the Games. Instead, today we would train, interview, perform for the judges, get our scores and tomorrow we would get thrown into the arena. Silly Gamemakers, throwing twists into these Games already. They promised to make this, "The most exciting Games yet! With twists and turns at every corner". This did not make me excited.

As I pulled off what I wore to bed, I was thinking about what I was going to showcase for the Gamemakers. If Bryson and I were fan favorites we could either play up all of our training and just get outstanding scores and be the pair to be reckoned with, or we could play a more demure game. I think that I had the other boys in my favor, Onyx and Glitter, not so much. I thought about it, carefully. Bryce can do what he pleases, I had to worry about my own game now. It'd be nice if we could score close together, but, I needed to worry about myself. I'm not sure if I wanted to paint such a large target on my back, before the Games even started by upstaging the other girls. I had at least cracked a smile from Onyx last night but I was really unsure about both of them really. I had questions for Gage, Damien, and surprisingly Cordelia, especially Cordelia. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," I shouted. Calypso came in, looking her normal polished self but tired.

"I'm taking out your hair, redoing it, sending you to training and going back to bed." She stated.

"Coffee?" I asked her.

"It makes me tired, so no." She sat me down at the vanity and started to unweave this beautiful hair do. We sat in silence, she tired and slightly grumpy, me thinking about strategies.

"What? No badgering or instructions about your dress tonight?" She asked.

"I trust you two," I admitted. I saw a smile play on her lips.

"Just so that I'm not naked," I added just for good measure.

"Well, crap. Bravo had better start sketching then." She joked. I knew that they probably had half a dozen dresses for me to try on. She went back to unweaving.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Calypso asked after a couple of minutes.

"Strategy. The girls from 1 and 2 don't seem to like me. I want to stand out but I don't want to put a target on my back so early." I admitted. Her lips pursed together and she seemed to think it over.

"Sometimes it's better to sit back and observe for a while, then act." She stated. Maybe seeming ordinary will help me. I really could sit back and observe all their weaknesses and act on them.

"That's smart." I stared at the floor. After unbraiding my hair, it was extremely wavy and had much more volume than ever before. She made some kind of puff on top of my head and braided two loose braids on each side that met in the middle. She gave me black leggings with a matching black fitted shirt, which had a patch with 4 on it stitched in bright red. I got dressed. Once I was done, Calypso walked around me, sizing me up.

"You look like a warrior." She assessed.

"That's a good thing." I replied.

"Yes, it is." She said, making her way over to the door.

"Don't worry; we'll make you look dashing tonight." She said before slipping out. I slipped on the shoes provided for me and went to look for Gage. He knew me, the real me, more than anyone else in the world. I needed his advice, what he thought about my plan. I was on my way to his room when I caught a glance of Cordelia's red hair.

"Cordelia?" I called. I ran to catch her. She had stopped around the corner and waited for me.

"I was wondering if I could pick your brain? I have a few questions to ask you, strictly about the Games, nothing else. I won't hit you, promise." I told her. She looked me up and down before agreeing. She led me to her room. Her room reminded me so much of home. While everything in my room was decorated white, she had black furniture and light blue walls. Seashells from home adorned walls and were made into different decorations.

"Wow," I said, impressed.

"You spend so much time here away from 4, you want it to feel like home." She explained, unzipping her dress from last night. She was just getting in as well.

"Thank you for everything that you're doing." I told her. By her just getting back to her room meant that she had stayed out all night trying to get money for Bryson and I. She looked at me and threw on a flow-y pink blouse. She grabbed a pair of white pants and pulled them up.

"What did you want to speak to me about?" She asked, cutting to the chase.

"I want to know how you played your interview. And I want to get your advice on how I should. Damien and Gage can only tell me so much, but you're a female and a Victor. I would expect Gage and Damien to help Bryce out if he asked them." I told her. She brushed out her long red hair.

"You're a very clever girl," She noted.

"That's a good thing." She added. I sat at the table near a window. The curtains were a light yellow with a white pattern all over them. I smiled.

"I have these same curtains in the room I share with Moira at home." I told her. I had a handful of the curtains in my hand. Cordelia shot a look of pity towards me.

"Look, I get it. Bryson's your Tribute, I'm Damien's. There's a one in twenty-four shot of me coming back and going home alive. I would really appreciate it if you could give me any advice. Our district doesn't have another female Victor, so you're kind of the person to look up to here." She tilted her and stared at me for a moment.

"If I were you, I would play the sweet, popular girl card. Everyone knows you in 4, you have lots of friends, no boy, you can't find the 'right one' or a 'real man' whatever you can come up with. That'll get sponsors to jump at you, you're pretty enough to pull it off. Be charming during your interview, funny if you can, possibly flirty, especially be confident." She paused.

"The other Careers know you're valuable with a trident, and yesterday I don't know if it was an act or not, but you couldn't shoot an arrow if your life depended on it. Show them you're good at something else. Not as good as with the trident, but capable enough to call yourself a Career. That's what Bryson needs to do today too." I nodded my head, eagerly listening to what she was telling me.

"Listen, when the time comes to go in front of the Gamemakers, I was supposed to flop. That's what my Mentor told me to do. He wanted me to be seen as a weakling. I got a dummy, painted it as much as I could like the biggest competition, who was a boy from 2. Then, I chopped off its head." She stated. She wanted to be seen as a girl who would take down the biggest opponent.

"No one knows that I did that. I was the highest ranked girl, ranked second overall, just behind the boy from 2. I let the fight go on in the Cornucopia go on, but I killed the boy from 1 and the girl from 2. The rest of us Careers stuck together, I watched them and took them down when they wondered away on their own, by themselves. I stalked them before I killed them. That's how I won." I pictured her as a lioness, stalking her prey before the kill. It seemed fitting.

"That's not what I'm telling you to do though. The boys seem to fancy you a little, but they know you're dangerous. You demanded to let a non-Career in, and they didn't challenge that, which is curious. You will need to watch your back, but that's why you have the boy from 8 and Bryson. The three of you will stick together, I can already see it."

"That's what I hoped for. When the time comes, the three of us will take down whoever is left of the Careers, then go our separate ways. Hopefully, it won't be the three of us left." I told her.

"Damien said you won't kill Bryce. You know he won't kill you. There's no telling what the Head Gamemaker will do with the pair of you if it comes down to the pair of you." She pulled her hair back.

"Now go, be gone with you," She instructed. I got up from the desk and crossed the room. I looked around one more time and then left. I ran into Damien.

"What were you doing in Cordelia's room?" He asked me immediately.

"Is she still alive?" He asked.

"We were talking girl-to-girl, no fighting." I promised.

"Come, it's time to train." Damien said, leading me to the elevator.


	15. Most Likely to Succeed

_A/N- I know this is the shortest chapter yet but before you throw tomatoes at me, this wasn't originally going to be a chapter of its own. Since I have a lot planned for the interviews and what goes on after, I wanted to split it up (trust me I think you'll like what's coming). Since you can tell by the title superlatives come into play. If you had to big any superlatives for _The Hunger Games _characters who would you give what title to? Hit the little review button and drop a line so I know people are still reading this! Another update in the next 48 hours (hopefully). Enjoy- xoxo*_

"Most Likely to Succeed"

Both Bryson and I had to show the other Careers we were useful. I went over to hand-to-hand combat. While I didn't create a stir like Gunner, I beat the trainer that they had given me. I let him hit me twice and disarm me once, I couldn't unleash all of my training at once. Better to let the other Tributes think I was good at hand-to-hand combat and tridents, nothing else. I wanted to keep my skills with knives on the down low. When I finished at that station, I looked around and saw that Olivia, Onyx, Leo and Glitter had all been watching.

I smiled and went over to the axe station. I fooled around with that station for under an hour before going back to the plant station. I only stayed there for a couple of minutes, to refresh my memory then I went to the knife/sword station. I showed a little bit of skills. Really, I showed that I was able to hold a sword and maneuver with it without killing myself. Bryson came over and practiced with swords next to me for a while.

"Not throwing it all out there then?" He asked me.

"A girl's got to have some secrets." I replied; he smiled.

"I take it this would be your moment to shine; I'll leave you to it." I told him. Sure enough, Bryson made himself known to be a force to be reckoned with when he had a sword in his hand. I wandered for a while and then found Liam at the camouflage station. I went over to talk to him. I figured out how to paint myself to blend in. As we worked, we talked.

"I think at a certain point we need to break from the others." He stated. I looked up from my work, and stared at him.

"Why do you say that?" I asked, raising my eyebrows, but picking up my work again. It wasn't that I wasn't thinking the same thing but, I was curious as to how he was going to answer.

"Those two girls would rip out your throat if they got the chance to be alone with you. Leo and Gunner would bash my head in with a stone the second they get the chance. There is going to come a certain point in the Games where the Careers turn on each other. If we can cut and run on them, they can destroy each other and we'll be gone by then." He explained. I looked around to make sure no one would hear what I was about to say to Liam.

"They'll come after us first." I went back to what I was doing.

"I'm not stupid; I know there's going to come a time to break the alliance. I'd rather be the ones that break off, but it puts an even bigger target on our backs." I said looking at him.

"If we split, I don't know that we'd be able to stay together, the three of us." I said. I could see behind his hazel eyes that he was thinking.

"You are right, there is going to come a time when we have to split and run." I admitted. Onyx came and sat with us.

"What were you two talking about?" She asked us, carefully choosing which paint she wanted to start with.

"Back home," I said sighing (and quite honestly picking the first subject I could think of).

"I bet you're popular in 2, Onyx." Liam told her, trying to compliment her.

"I'm well known." She replied. I tried not to let her see me roll my eyes.

"What about 4's 'Golden Girl'? Is your superlative 'most popular'?" She asked me. This girl clearly, did not like me. I thought about the superlative I had received in high school. I smiled to myself, not wanting to share with Onyx. Really, even if I hadn't gotten a superlative in school, I didn't want to oblige her. To cut the tension between us, Liam broke the silence.

"I got "Most Likely to Win the Hunger Games"." Liam said. Both Onyx and I turned our heads to look at him.

"No you did not," I responded, quite shocked.

"I did," He stated. The truth was, I had gotten "Most Likely to Succeed". What a sick world we live in that "Most Likely to Win the Hunger Games" was even a superlative, "Most Likely to Kill Twenty-Three People" probably wouldn't have fit under a picture.

"I got "Best Smile" in my class." I half lied. On top of one superlative, I had unofficially gotten a "Most Likely to Convince People to Do Things with Once Look". I guess you could say everyone in my class knew I could manipulate people both in a good and bad way. I smiled to show them my 'award' winning feature.

"Since we're sharing, you should tell us what you got." I looked at Onyx, putting the ball in her court.

"If we're being honest," she paused. "Best to Take Home to Mom and Dad" and "Best Athlete"," She admitted. I smiled; I could see that in her. We sat in silence, working until the bell sounded. 'This is it,' I told myself. We didn't have a designated time for lunch, but could go over and eat if we wanted to. I trained through lunch; I'll just order food while I get ready.

"Time to go impress the judges," Onyx said.

"See you for interviews." Liam said as we all got up.

It would be easy for Onyx, she's from District 2, and she'd be the fourth to go. I'd be number eight to go.

"I'm lucky I go eighth, you have to go fifteenth. I hope you have something impressive to wake the judges up." I joked with him. I playfully hit the top of his arm.

"We all can't be like you and dazzle everyone with our smile." He mocked me. I smiled as large as I could as I went through the doors to go to my team. They only took ten minutes to prep me, really just scrubbing all the paint off me. Damien came through the door.

"Almost time," He told me. Bravo finished with me and we went to get Cordelia and Bryson, a Peacekeeper met us there.

"It's time." The guy in white said. We were led to the elevators. I had to figure out what I was doing right now. Hand-to-hand combat? Trident? Knives? My head was swimming. It was like Bryce sensed the commotion in my head and grabbed my hand. He gave it a quick squeeze and smiled when I looked at him. He was wise beyond his years. Bryson deserved to go home and marry a good girl from 4 and have a good life. Instead he was being thrown into the Games, and has a .05% chance to make it out. We were led to the doors in a separate part of the Training Center.

"Just the boy," The Peacekeeper said. I let go of Bryson's hand.

"Be great." I told him. He nodded, took a deep breath and went in. Cordelia left to meet him, there was a door on the other side that you came out.

"Do you know what you're doing yet?" Damien asked me.

"Narrowed it down, hand-to-hand, trident or throwing knives," I wasn't sure if I was telling him or asking him.

"No hand-to-hand, they saw that while you trained earlier. Be spectacular with your trident if you choose that." He paused, stepping in closer so that the Peacekeeper wouldn't hear.

"Remember Tatum, depending on how you want to play these Games, this is the time to show them everything or purposely throw things off. Making a grand gesture will put a target on your back, and if I know you, I don't think you want to do that." I smiled as he told me this.

"If you want my opinion, I would start with a trident and mix in dagger-slash-knife skills. It will be unexpected and keep them on their toes."

"But I didn't ask for your opinion," I joked with him, with a smile on my lips. He shook his head, knowing I was purposely being difficult. I heard a noise coming from the Peacekeeper.

"It's time, you can go in." He told me. Damien looked at me. I nodded my head and opened the door.

"How'd it go?" Damien asked as we walked down the hall. I was surprised he hadn't asked me immediately when I had come through the other side of the doors.

"I had fun." I shrugged. I hadn't been hungry before going to impress the Gamemakers, but now my stomach was growling and I was tired.

"Oh boy," He replied, sighing. We got in the elevator and went back up to our floor.

"The Prep Team's anxious to get their hands on you for tonight." Damien stated.

"How long do I have before you set them free on me again?

"About two minutes." He said, looking at his watch. I sighed.

"What was that for?" He questioned curiously.

"I want a nap."

"You sound like you're in kindercare again."

"Don't mock me, I'm tired and it will probably be the last nap I ever take thanks to these stupid Games." I said irritated. Thirty seconds later we arrived on the floor. Another minute went by and we were outside my room.

"I'm curious, can you still throw a tantrum?" He asked me.

"Please, tantrum has my name in it." I replied. He had to think about how Tatum was literally in the word tantrum.

"You want a nap?" He asked.

"Didn't I just tell you that I did?" I asked, not wanting to play his games.

"I'll buy you half an hour if you can convince them to get out of your room in the next sixty seconds." He told me.

"Deal," I told him. I threw open my door.

"Get out!" I screamed.

"All of you, get out!" I yelled. All of the movement and talking that had happened to my dramatic entrance had stopped instantaneously. I walked across the room.

"Don't you people listen? I said get out. Get out of my room. Stop your playing with stupid dresses and leave!" I yelled. I grabbed Skye, she jumped. I guided her to the door.

"Get out. All of you. Now. Don't look at each other. Out. Leave." I commanded. My nostrils flared. They looked at each other and started for the door. Calypso shot me an intriguing look before she crossed the threshold. Once they were all out of the door, Damien peeked his head in through the door.

"How'd I do?" I asked walking to the comfortable white bed.

"Thirty seconds," he replied.

"I told you I'm good."

"You have your thirty minutes as promised, Tatum. We will need to talk when they start preparing you for interviews. And I should expect you should apologize to them, I'll cover for you, but it'd be a nice gesture." He said. I nodded and fell onto the bed. I heard the door shut, closed my eyes and passed out for my beloved half an hour of sleep.


	16. Interviews and Tantrums

_***A/N- Yay longest chapter yet! Odds are you will be getting longer chapters as of now. This was both a lot of fun and really tough to write at the same time. Please let me know what you think of this. This is really when Tate realizes that in just hours she is going into the Games and how much she has to lose. Thanks to all those that are still reading this, love you guys! Xoxo"**_

"_The age of man is over. A darkness comes at dawn. These lessons that we've learned here, have only just begun. We were the kings and queens of promise." From "Kings and Queens" by 30 Seconds to Mars _

Interviews and Tantrums

"Tatum Wren, wake up." I heard.

"Five more minutes Eliza," I said, putting my arm over my face.

"Come on Tate, wake up. The Prep Team is coming in soon." I opened my eyes and removed my arm from my face.

"You're not Eliza." I said picking up my head, looking at Gage. He sat down on the bed, next to me. I was happy to see him but it made me sad for a split second that my dearest Eliza wasn't here with me, waking me up like she had so many times before. Would I ever see her again?

"No, I'm not. Damien said you had a little bit of a mood swing earlier, thought it best to leave you alone for half an hour. I'm here to see how you are." He replied. "Feeling better now?" Gage asked. I nodded my head, and sat up.

"I'm hungry," I said.

"I just ordered you some food; I saw that you didn't take a break to eat during training." He said, running his finger down my cheek. I smiled.

"I have the best boyfriend," I whispered in his ear, I wrapped my arms around him. Gage wrapped his strong arms around me. I never wanted to let go of him. There was a knock at the door.

"Better get up." He said, pulling me to my feet. It was an Avox at the door with food. I thanked him as he left. As he left, the Prep Team filtered in. Bravo came in first and then Calypso.

"Listen, I wanted to apologize to you. I didn't mean to yell at any of you. I, I'm just stressed." I couldn't find the words.

"It's fine. We understand darling," Calypso said.

"Now let's get you perfect for tonight." Bravo added. I grabbed a few bites of food before they took control. I rubbed my eyes and while the two of them chatted and the rest of the team piled in. Skye looked at me warily.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked her. She nodded her head but didn't smile or say a word. The rest of the group piled in and started discussing who would do what and who would work with me and who would work with Bryce.

"Listen, I'm sorry. I should not have grabbed you earlier. I'm really stressed out, you can't imagine what it's like to get ready to literally fight for your life. It's… terrifying." I admitted to her. Her eyes got wide, I knew I had her.

"I'm not trying to make excuses, but I hope you'll forgive me." I told her. She grabbed me and hugged me. This was not the response I was expecting.

"You can win these Games." She told me.

"Thank you." I said, as she let me go.

Once again, I was seated in my bathroom in front of a mirror. Since I had been scrubbed and polished down yesterday, only Bravo and Calypso came in, the rest went to go make Bryce look pretty. The two of them worked on my hair, because it "would take the longest to get ready". I stretched my limbs before sitting down.

"So I assume you two are the biggest stars of last night?" I asked.

"We're just so honored that Bryson and you could pull off the looks we envisioned for you." Bravo gushed.

"We've been getting calls from all over the Capitol. People wanting us to dress them, but we turned down the offers. We're exclusively Bryson and yours until the end of the Games." He added. That was an odd thing for a design team to do. They could literally make millions by the time the Games start and end.

"Anyways, it got the two of you the attention you needed. People are saying you're a shore thing." Calypso said.

"Really, again with the sea jokes?" I asked her.

"Yup, been holding on to it for a while," She replied. They finished coloring my hair and I got to see the tips of my blonde hair. I was a bit nervous about it and was anxious to see it. I had to convince myself it was just hair, and not all of it was even mine. It went from my natural color to yellow, orange, pink, indigo, light blue and dark blue. I made a noise.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Bravo asked.

"It's different, but I like it." I admitted.

"It actually reminds me of the sunrise at home, watching the sun come up out of the water. That's one of my favorite things in the world. There was always something so peaceful in watching it; I think because you know it will always happen." I desperately craved to be around the open sea from home right now.

"I don't know if I'll ever see that sunrise again," I said a loud to no one myself.

"You have a piece of home with you now." Calypso said. I looked up at the two of them. They had been so good to me.

"When we first got here and I saw you guys. I honestly contemplated running away and hiding from you. But, over the last couple of days, I realized that you're actual people. You could have dressed me up as a fish, and stuck me in a gold gown like almost everyone else does for 4. Instead, you've actually been incorporating bits and pieces from home in everything you've put together for Bryce and me. You didn't have to do that." I told them. I meant what I had said. They really didn't need to do anything that they had for us. The two of them smiled.

"Now is not the time to become sentimental doll, we have to get you ready to blow the fish out of the water with your interview." Bravo said. His joke was so bad, I couldn't help but laugh. The rest of the Prep Team and the rest of our 4 team met in my room. Apparently Calypso decided that Bryson was not done yet, so she took him back to his room, along with Destiny. Epsilon was getting the other victors ready, leaving me with Bravo and Skye. It didn't take nearly as long as it had getting me ready tonight than the previous night. There were no golden lotions applied to my skin, just regular lotion to keep my skin looking soft and smooth. Skye applied my makeup while Bravo finished with my hair.

I spun around to see myself. My hair was puffy on top but completely sleeked back and out of my face. It was straightened out and went down to a couple of inches above my butt. My makeup was completely different from last night. Instead of the blue powder surrounding my eyes, it was a nude and light pink color. I had a tiny bit of soft pink blush on my cheeks and a mix between coral, nude and orange gloss on lips.

"Wow." I said, checking myself out in the mirror.

"Please tell me you're putting me in something I can actually move and breathe in tonight? Remember, I do have to walk, sit down and stand up, without flash the crowd." I begged Bravo. He smiled. I couldn't tell what kind of smile it was he flashed me.

"It's magnificent," Skye gushed.

"Will I be able to move in it?" I asked, desperately.

"You'll be fine," Bravo told me.

"Let's show her the dress, shall we?" He asked Skye, excited. The two of them led me into my room and pulled a hanger with a garment bag out from the clothing rack. I was actually nervous and a little excited to see what I'd be wearing.

"Any guesses on colors?" Bravo teased.

"Come on, just show it to me." I told him. He smiled as Skye unzipped the bag. Bravo pulled out a blue gown. It was magnificent. It was almost a sheer blue, floor length gown. It had blue jewels and little ruffles and feathers on it. It was sleeveless and exposed a lot of skin, with a slit down to the cinched waist.

"Wow," I said.

"We seem to be getting that response a lot with you," Bravo mocked me.

"How do you expect my boobs to not pop out of this?" The words flew out of my mouth before I could really process.

"Please darling, we have tricks to suck in, push up, push together and do just about everything to make you look perfect. You will not be falling out of this dress." He reassured me. The two of them helped me into the dress. It weighed less than what I thought it would. At this point, I was used to this prep team seeing me naked. They somehow made my boobs lift higher than usual. Then, they put something sticky on them and positioned the fabric so it wouldn't budge. I was concerned about not getting to wear any underwear with the dress, but then I realized they had a small panel of fabric so no one could see through the fabric near my nether regions. In the back, there were only two long straps to my waist, making it an open back. In the front, on each side, there was a sheer blue panel with little ruffles marked. The gown flared out from my waist. Simply put, it really was amazing.

(/pin/34128909646203083/ this is essentially her dress!)

"You look sexy, fierce and powerful, all while looking feminine. I knew this would be the dress." Bravo stood back and appreciated his work.

"You all really are spectacular at this whole thing." I told them.

"Out of curiosity, can I see the other dresses?" I asked, truly curious.

"You mean the dresses you'll wear on your Victory Tour? Because you will be winning these Games; if they let me bet which they totally don't, I'd put it all on you." Bravo said. It was nice to have the confidence in one person. They showed me the other five dresses that were on the cart. There was a red one shouldered number that was beyond sexy. There was a black lace gown that covered everything except for a huge cut out in the back. I was amazed at this coral colored number.

"If you didn't put me in this, I think I'd want to wear this." I admitted, touching the fabric. It was the softest thing I'd ever touched. It was floor length and two strapped but it had jewels as the straps keeping the front and back up. It had a slit in the middle, but covered everything. Another favorite was completely unique in itself. It was white and had cut outs at odd places but it was really fun.

Skye and Bravo helped me into my heels that matched the color of the dress.

"Couldn't make things easy on me, could you?" I joked. I spun around in the dress and watched myself in the mirror. Cordelia's words from this morning rang in my ears.

'If I were you, I would play the sweet, popular girl card. Everyone knows you, lots of friends, but no boy, you can't find a real man. Be charming, you're pretty enough to pull it off. Be funny if you can or flirty, especially be confident.' I heard her voice say. I could be confident in this dress. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I had to be the Tatum I wanted to show Panem, not the Tate people knew in 4.

"This is a game. You have to play them if you want to win the Hunger Games." I whispered to myself.

"What was that dear?" Skye asked me.

"Oh, I was wondering when we'd meet up with the others."I lied. Just then there was a knock at the door.

"Perfect timing," She exclaimed. She ran to get the door. Damien and Gage walked in first. I was still facing the mirror but shifted my glance to see their faces. Both were in shock. Neither of them said anything.

"Can one of you please say something?" I asked, feeling slightly self-conscious.

"You look phenomenal." Calypso boomed as soon as she saw me. I smiled.

"I knew it would be that one!" Epsilon claimed. I smiled at his response.

"I've never seen you look so," Gage started, not able to pick the right word.

"You look fantastic." Damien said. Raven and the other various members of the crew piled in, followed by Cordelia and Bryson.

"Wow," was Bryce's reaction.

"Alright, let's see how the two of you look together." Calypso and Bravo pushed us side-by-side. He was in a midnight blue tuxedo with black collaring.

"I think we happen to look pretty good." He said. Bravo re-straightened his black skinny tie on his white button down top. Everyone really looked extraordinary. All of us would be on camera at some point during the night. Usually when before they would interview the two Tributes from the districts, they would flash the camera at the Victors, and then in between the two Tributes, show the Prep Team. When the two Peacekeepers showed up in the doorframe, we knew it was time to go.

"I'd like a word with my Tribute," Damien said. The two of us stayed behind while my room cleared out.

"I have a plan." He stated.

"I'm listening," I replied.

"After all the interviews are done, throw another tantrum off screen. Everyone will think you're having some type of breakdown right before the Games start. It will make you a liability and dangerous. If you do it right, the other Careers will keep you around just so they can squash you later." He spoke fast, because we didn't really have time to talk about it.

"What kind of tantrum, what will I go on about?" I asked him, curious.

"Whatever you please," His reply left things wide open.

"During the interview be the strong, confident young woman we all know you are. This tantrum off screen will show how you can be vulnerable." He further explained.

"You have to come." One of the Peacekeepers showed up again.

"You can't tell anyone about this."

"Gage?"

"Not even him." He replied.

"If you're still undecided, if you do this, I can guarantee you everyone will leave you alone the rest of the night." He added. Damien took my arm and escorted me out of the room. When we got to the elevator, I didn't let my arm leave the crook of his arm. I needed something to hold on to. As we were lead to the stage, I was in awe of the sheer size of everything. I saw Glitter go up on stage, followed by Gunner, then the pair from 2, then 3. Before I could really sort out and figure out exactly what I was going to do it was my turn.

"And now we have from District 4, Tatum Starlight!" The announcer, Oscar Megaphylla called. I took a deep breath and flashed the biggest smile I could as I walked out on stage. The crowd roared as soon as they saw me.

"Hello, hello! You look fabulous." He said, as I sat down. I sat up as straight as I could.

"You look very dapper yourself, Oscar." I told him.

"Let's dive into things now." I smiled, unsure if he had meant to make a joke or not.

"During the Reaping, there was a change in your district this year. How did you feel knowing no one could volunteer?" He asked. I was surprised at how he literally jumped right into this interview.

"I was surprised, as I think we all were in 4, but honestly, I was thinking about my sisters and really what the odds were if one of them would be picked." I decided to go with an honest approach to this question.

"How do you think you would have reacted if one of their names had been picked?"

"I'm not sure, but it was my name that was chosen and that's why I get to sit here with you now." I diverted the question back to me and smiled.

"You do have a lot of sisters, correct?"

"Yes, five of them actually. We are all very close," I admitted.

"Speaking of your family, you come from a Victor's family. Your grandfather was a Victor of the 100th Hunger Games. Let's speak about that." He said.

"He was, unfortunately he died when I was still very young and I don't really remember him, at all." I lied through my teeth.

"That's a shame." He paused, staring at me.

"I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, I cannot get over how beautiful you are Tatum, and these cameras are not doing her justice. And that outfit last night!" Oscar admitted. I laughed and blushed while the audience cheered.

"Thank you. My Prep Team has been amazing. They are so just so utterly fantastic, I cannot say enough good things about them. How beautiful is this dress?" I giggled. Cameras fell on the entire team. They deserved their moment.

"Tell me, you must have so many boys chasing after you, back at 4." He said. I smiled.

"I have a lot of friends in District 4, but no boy. I've dated a couple but, nothing serious." I said playfully. "I just don't think I've found the real man I've been looking for." I added. There was a guy in the stands that jumped up and screamed, "I'm a real man." I giggled along with Oscar.

"What about the Victor, Gage Odair? There have been rumors floating around that he trains you. Anything else going on between the two of you?" He suggested. I saw the cameras cut straight to Gage.

"I do know Gage. He actually trains three of my younger sisters. I have taken maybe six training session with him, and actually they were alongside of my sisters." I acted like I had try to pinpoint the number of times I had trained with Gage.

"Ladies, I think we can all agree that Gage Odair is one adorably handsome guys out there, am I right?" I asked. The girls in the crowd clapped and cheered.

"So, no, nothing going on between us," I replied. I knew I was running out of time. I felt like I had to capture the crowd and be charming.

"Can I let you in on a little secret Oscar?" I asked him.

"Of course, my dear," he said leaning in. I lowered my voice but made sure the microphone would pick it up.

"My little sister, Lela, has the biggest crush on Gage. It is the sweetest thing to watch the way she acts around him." While I was lying about Lela having a giant crush on Gage, I was drawing from the experience of seeing half of 4 openly swoon over him.

"That is all the time we have," Oscar got up and escorted me over to an open part of the stage.

"Tatum, if you win these Games, I don't think you'll have any problem finding a real man." He said while we were walking. I smiled again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Tatum Starlight, District 4's Golden Girl!" He said, spinning me around and holding my arm up in the air. I flashed my best smile, like I had actually enjoyed being on display for the entire country to watch. The crowd cheers as the camera cut for a commercial.

"Good luck in the Games, Tatum." Oscar said kissing my hand before letting me go.

"Thank you," I told him, before heading off stage. As I exited the stage I exhaled the breath I didn't know I was holding. Bryce was already on stage when Damien, Raven and Gage got to me.

"You did really well. I was surprised that you covered so many things in two minutes." Raven said.

"Me too," I agreed. We had talked about the change to the Reaping, my grandfather, the Prep Team, my lack of boyfriend, and training with Gage. Six topics in the matter of two minutes.

"I didn't mean to throw the camera on you," I admitted to Gage.

"We had a hunch they would make the connection between the two of us and training. I knew it was coming." He replied.

Damien put his arm around my waist and ushered me to a waiting area. He leaned in close and whispered, "You were spectacular. You engaged the crowd; you were alluring, confident and girly at the same time."

Eloise popped up out of nowhere.

"Tate, you look marvelous." She said hugging me. I patted her on the back.

"So Oscar will continue to interview the remaining Tributes, and afterwards, they'll get a shot of all twenty-four of you together, before you all go into the Arena." She kept blabbing on about what would happen after the interviews were over. I suddenly got very upset about how Eloise so simply stated that the camera would get one last look at all of us together before the Games started. This would be the last time all of us would be together alive. Oscar should basically end the interviews tonight with the shot of all of us and say, "Watch how they struggle and kill each other on screen for your entertainment Panam."

I watched Bryson as he came off the stage. I couldn't listen to what he said during his interview. His expression changed as he saw me. I was angry but more so I felt distressed. He grabbed both of my hands and squeezed them. He didn't say anything but I knew he was curious about my sudden change in expression and emotions. Eloise started on again about what would happen next.

We waited as Oscar interviewed the other Tributes. We were all assembled on stage by district. I stood up straight and smiled like I had a secret. Oscar said something to the cameras, I didn't pay attention.

"Tomorrow the 145th Hunger Games will begin! Tributes, may the odds be ever in your favor!" He announced, the crowd went wild and then the cameras turned off their red lights. I walked off stage, in my own little daze. I realized this was the time that Damien was talking about to throw a tantrum. What could I possibly pick one about? I couldn't do it to the Prep Team again.

"Were you alright before?" Bryson asked me. Him, I would flip out on him. We were both in the alliance already; it wouldn't put him at harm.

"I don't mean anything I'm about to say. Do you understand me? I need to do this." I asked him as we went around a stage wall. It was better to make them see me as a silly girl with feelings having a weak moment right before the Games. That's what Damien said. He hadn't steered me wrong so far.

"Uh, okay. What are you talking about?" He asked.

"I'm sorry ahead of time." I said in a low voice.

"What are you talking about?" I turned around and snapped at him in a loud voice.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"You think this is all one big game, don't you?" I accused him.

"You heard what I said." He played along. Reason 253, he was amazing.

"Bryce, these are people's lives at stake. If you really liked my sister so much like you claim, you would have told her before we left. It's not my job to be a love messenger. If, _if_, you win, you can tell her while I'm being thrown in the ground." I yelled at him. This was it, I had to make things convincing. From my peripheral vision I could see Gage coming over.

"This is my life at stake too, don't think you're better than me Tatum Starlight. Oh, look at me, my grandfather was a Victor, I'm so charming, oh." He mocked me, loudly.

"Yes, I do come from a Victor's family, but at least my family loves me. They want me to come home. If you won I bet you wouldn't even go back to 4, you would stay here and probably help them plan next year's Games." I yelled.

"Egg me on," I whispered, barely moving my lips.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Gage asked, coming over.

"Maybe I would, it'd be better than going home to pathetic mother who let's a drunk beat her daily." That was it. It was like pouring gasoline on an open fire.

"Who do you think you are?" I screamed at him.

"Tatum, calm down." Gage told me.

"Get away from me!" I'm so angry my voice breaks as I scream it. I was shaking I was so infuriated.

"You don't get it do you? There is no winner! Look at how screwed up all the Victors are here, look at how many of them drink or are just bat shit crazy! Surely you have had to notice by now. The winner is haunted forever. And the rest of them, the 'losers' in this Game?" I say viciously.

"They die. Not dainty little deaths like passing away in your sleep; no, nothing like that. How would you like your head chopped off? Do you want me to torture you to death? To kill you a little bit, minute-by-minute and relish in your pain and suffering? This is what these Games are, you stupid, stupid, little boy!" I scream. I'm so angry, I feel like I'm going to explode. My chest is heaving up and down, and I'm slightly concerned I'm going to spill out of the top of my dress.

I am aware that I have captured the attention of not only those closest to us, but others that were closer to the interview room were now looking. I brush back a piece of hair on my shoulder as I storm out of the stage area and stomp down the hallway. Damien and Gage were hot on my heels. Damien grabbed my arm.

"Don't touch me." I yelled, rolling Damien's hand off my shoulder. I stormed off towards the elevator.

"Tate," Gage started.

"Don't," I warned them both. I yelled as they both got on the elevator with me. I had to keep up this act the whole way. They followed me to my room.

"Why are you following me?" I yelled at them. Gage opened my door.

"Get inside." He said, annoyed. I did, followed closely by Damien.

"What is wrong with you?" Gage yelled at me, clearly outraged by my behavior. I turned to my mentor.

"You think they bought it?" I asked him. I took a deep breath, trying to slow down my heart rate.

"I think you sold it. There's no guarantee they completely believe it. Remember, some of these kids could have been putting on an act since the Reaping." He stated.

"Excuse me, can someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Gage demanded. Damien and I turned around to look at Gage. I smiled.

"This was just part of an act. I stand by what I said, but the screaming and throwing a temper tantrum was a front. You can't spell tantrum without Tatum." I explained.

"Half will think she's a spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum, then the other half that were closer and could listen in, will think she's having a mental breakdown right before the Games start. Either way, she comes off unstable and everyone will think that she'll be weaker when everything starts." Damien explained.

"Sorry, we couldn't tell you." I told him. He turned his back on us and walked over to the window in the room. Damien and I looked at each other. Gage was angry.

"I'll see you later?" I asked him.

"I fully intend to make it look like I'm beyond irritated and can't stand you."

"So basically you're not going to act?" I asked with a grin on my face.

"Yup, pretty much." He joked. Damien opened the door and took a step in the doorframe.

"You are ridiculous!" He screamed and slammed the door in my face. I heard him mumbling stuff and storm down the hall. I opened the door.

"You are the worst mentor ever!" I screamed and slammed the door again. I sighed, and had to stuff my boobs back in the dress. Gage was still stewing by the window. I bit my bottom lip as I crossed the room. I stood behind him and wrapped my arms around his chest. I went up on my tip-toes so I could put my head on his shoulder.

"We couldn't tell you. I'm sorry." I told him, kissing his neck. He only blinked and continued to stare out the window at the bright and colorful lights of the Capital. I lowered my feet so they were flat. I buried my head in his back.

"We knew that if you believed it, we could fool other people." I told him. I put my lips on his back.

"Please don't be mad." I begged him. I felt him take a deep breath. He turned around, quickly, and dropped my hands from around him. I couldn't read his expression.

"Yeah, I was mad." He announced in a stern voice. I looked into those green eyes of his that got me, every time. Gage said was, was is past tense.

"Does that mean you aren't mad, anymore?" I asked hopeful.

"No, a little irritated, but that's nothing new with you." He said, tapping my arm. A little grin played on his lips, that made me smile.

"Did you mean it, what you said?"

"Some of it," I replied. The scary thing was, I did mean the majority of what I screamed. He frowned, I fear from knowing that very thing.

"I know you've seen the dark side to being a Victor." He paused.

"No, Gage, I-"

"Stop talking." He commanded me. There was something in his tone that made me shut up and actually listen to what he was saying.

"I know you've pulled me out of my nightmares, and seen the other Victors drunk, pick a fight, and basically just lose it. And at times, it seems unbearable. I don't want that to stop you from coming back. I want you, I _need_ you to go in there and fight like hell. I don't care what you have to do; I need you to come back to me." Gage said. I had never seen him look so vulnerable.

I opened my mouth to say something but he grabbed me and kissed me before I got the chance to get it out. I loosened his black, skinny tie. He threw off his black blazer. We were moving together, I was walking backwards when I rolled my ankle.

"Stupid shoes," I muttered. We were by a round table in the middle of the room with flowers and some other decorative stuff on it. Gage swiped everything off of it and put me on it. His hand ran up my leg to the slit in my dress, he pushed it up to reveal more of my leg. I pulled him down to me with his tie. I began to loosen his belt and then unbutton his pants. We lay back on the table. The wood was cold against my bare back. He tried to push my dress up, but since it was so tight, it wouldn't budge. His hands found the slit on my left side and ripped it open further. I wrapped my legs around him. There was a hunger growing in both of us.

Unexpectedly, Gage picked me up and found the bed; our lips never loosing contact in the transition. I had thrown the tie he was wearing and was having an issue with one particular button on his button down.

"Screw it." I said, ripping his blue shirt open. He looked at me.

"It's the Capital, you can get another one." I told him. Gage was shirtless, instantly. He pushed the little bit of fabric from my shoulder, letting it fall down my arm.

"I love you so much." Gage admitted. I smiled and kissed his lips. They tasted salty, as if we had just gotten out of the water from home.

"I love you more than I can possibly say." I told him. He pushed the dress off my body and somehow lost his pants but never left my side.

As our bodies collided, I felt the familiar warmth spread inside of me. As we continued to kiss and our bodies rocks back and forth, I realized I was going into the Games tomorrow. I could quite literally die in the next twenty-four hours.

I tried to stop it, but I just couldn't help it. Tears started to roll down my cheeks. Gage paused momentarily and looked at me. He saw the look in my eyes and continued.

"I'm sorry I'm so weak." I admitted to him.

"Forgive me?" I asked. He cupped my cheek in one hand and kissed the tears coming down my face.

"You aren't weak, you are spectacular." He said kissing my lips again.


	17. Last Sentiments

_**This is the week of updates! Next up we have the Games. Does anyone want to make any predictions on what will happen? If someone comes up with a great idea, I may just rework things and put it in the story. This chapter was meant to be a short little snippet but it somehow developed into this little fluff chapter. **_**Thegirlwiththebraid- love 30 seco****nds to mars! **_**Enjoy! **_

"Battle lines drawn if you wonder which side speaks the truth, then look closely to which speaks from pride. I love you. I swear it. I would never lie... But I fear for our lives and I fear your closed eyes..." –Wakey Wakey "War Sweater"

Last Sentiments

Gage held me as I fell asleep. It was one of those sleeps where it doesn't actually feel like you're sleeping, but your brain just keeps thinking. It's like it is a false sense of sleep. At one point, I didn't feel the heat from Gage's body so I opened my eyes. I looked behind me. Gage was standing up, and looked like he was walking away.

"Gage Odair, if you are sneaking out of my room, again, you better pray to the sea gods for protection. So help me, you will be the first victim of these Games because I will kill you myself." I threatened.

"You're a gem in the morning," He replied. "I was trying to find my underwear actually," He told me, surprised by my outburst.

"Is that alright with you?" He asked, me, standing in the moonlight naked.

"No," I replied, pushing myself up on my elbows.

"No?" He asked.

"No," I repeated, shaking my head. I got up and walked across the room.

"Maybe, I wanted a shower." I stated, going in the bathroom. I pressed a bunch of buttons, trying to make it work. Luckily, the water came on.

"And what does you taking a shower have to do with my underwear?" He called. I peaked my head out into the room, to see him standing there, holding his underwear.

"Maybe I wanted some company," I replied, turning around going back into the bathroom. I got into the glass shower and stood under the facet. There was something about letting the water hit my face that brought a sense of calm over me. I think it reminded me of the rain storms I used to get caught in at home. Thirty seconds later I heard the door open and then close.

"I thought you wanted your underwear." I replied, looking behind me.

"You said you wanted company. Who I am to refuse a Tribute?" He said before kissing my shoulder. I pressed a button that I thought would make soap come out. It didn't do anything so I pressed it again. All of a sudden, foams just started coming in at all angles.

"What did you do?" He asked, laughed.

"I don't know!" I admitted. I picked up a piece and blew it at him. We laughed and cleaned each other off. Gage put his arms around me and smiled. I held his arms. I sighed. This would be it. This would be the last time we would giggle, and play like this. I tried to smile because at least we had this moment.

"Hey," Gage said. He had caught the change in my mood; he was always really good at that.

"I know how scary it can be to kill someone, but remember, I'm right here when you get back." He said. I wasn't sure what I should be more concerned with. The fact that what I was about to admit was true or the fact that I was going to say it aloud.

"I'm not scared to kill." I said. It was the truth; I had been trained, taught and prepared for these Games.

"No?" He asked.

"I'm scared to die." I admitted. I could feel the muscles in his arms tense. He dropped his arms.

"Look at me," he said, spinning me around.

"Tatum, look at me." He commanded in a soft tone. I looked into his eyes.

"You cannot think like that. Get it out now." He told me. I put my arms around his chest. I held on like my life depended on it. At one point he shut off the water. We got out and dried off. We went back into my room, holding hands but not saying a thing. He found his underwear and pants and put them back on. I found clean underwear and a short, black, simple nightgown. I put them on.

"Are you leaving me now?" I asked, watching him put his white undershirt back on.

"No, put shoes on. Come on." Gage replied. He had grabbed two blankets and a pillow. He opened the door.

"Gage, people will know… about us." I thought he was crazy.

"Who cares? Your mine and I'm yours. Do you really want to let them keep us apart before you go into the Games?" He asked me.

"Never," I shoved on the slippers my Prep Team and given me, grabbed his hand and left the room. As the two of us walked down the hallway, Gage declared, "It's almost sunrise, let's go." I had no idea what to make of it. We waited for the elevator.

When the bell went off indicating it was here, we were both surprised when we found Cordelia in it, on her way back. Her black hair was tangled around her face. She wore a beautiful yellow dress, but looked tired and ragged. She looked at the two of us but said nothing, and her face remained the same as if she had no reaction. She got off the elevator, and we entered it. No one said a thing. She turned around and looked back at the two of us, looking at Gage, then at me, and then saw us holding hands. As the doors were closing, we saw her smile at us.

"Where are we going?" I asked him, curiously.

"Just wait and see." Gage said. We went to the very top floor. Once we were there, he somehow found a staircase leading up. We took it and came to a door.

"Hold these for a minute." He said, passing me the blankets and pillow. I held them, curious as to what he was doing. It took him two tries but he busted open the door. He held it open for me and then put a block down to keep it open. He grabbed the pillow and blankets in one arm and my hand in the other. We were on top of the roof. Gage led me to one side of the building. He put down the things we had brought up. I peered over the side of the building. It was such a long way down; this was the highest up I had ever been.

"Careful now," He called a warning to me. I took a couple steps back.

"What would happen if I jumped?" I asked him.

"You wouldn't. You would hop right back." With his reply, I grew confused.

"Just watch." He said, getting up and grabbing a pebble. He threw it off the side of the building. There was a 'zap' sound, followed by a flash and then the pebble came flying back. I looked at him, fascinated. He went back over to where he had been before. It was still dark, but the sky was turning a lighter blue color, indicating the sun was coming up soon. I looked at the buildings around us. Some were brick, a few stone ones; a lot of them looked like steel or metal. It wasn't like home at all.

"Minnow, come here." He called affectionately. I shot him a look.

"Alright, Tatum, will you please come here." He corrected himself. I walked over. Gage had put down a blanket to sit on and then held a blanket around him. He was seated and holding open arms out for me to sit in front of him. I sat in front of him and leaned back against his chest. He curled his arms around me and the blanket encircled us.

"What are we doing up here? We could have done this in my room." I asked, curiously.

"Sunrises are kind of our thing." He stated. I smiled; we had always loved watching the sun rise from one of our islands. There were so many times where I would have to sneak out of the house and then sneak back in without waking anyone in the house. Moira had caught me, but never questioned me. I adored her for that alone.

"I thought to myself, 'Why not get one last sunrise together?'." I turned my head and kissed him. This was the best thing anyone could have given me. We sat together and watched as the sun began to rise over the Capitol city. We compared it to the ones we had watched at home together. Once the sun had begun its long journey into the sky, we sat there, unwilling to leave.

"How do you know my middle name?" I asked him.

"Hmm?" He responded with a sound.

"When you woke me up last night, you said, 'Tatum Wren'. How do you know my middle name?" I asked, curiously.

"Moira told me."

"Why would Moira tell you my middle name?"

"Because you never did and I didn't know." He replied. I shrugged it off.

"Did you know that Tatum means cheerful bringer of good luck and joy?" He asked me. I nodded my head.

"Mom used to change the characters names in stories. One would always be a great and exceptional one, that would be Moira and another one would get into all kinds of crazy situations and get really lucky and come out fine because of my name." I told him.

"I remembered when we were younger; mom would tell us about how we had gotten our names."

"How'd you get Wren?" He asked. I smiled, as I looked across the open sky.

"My father named me. Mom named Moira, dad named me." I told him, snuggling into him. "Dad's favorite bird was a wren." I admitted.

"Back in the old, olden days, there were people who believed that the birds meant something; they had a message behind what they were." He said, wrapping his arms tighter around me.

"Wren means be resourceful and use what is available. Pretty fitting for you right now, don't you agree?" He asked. I smiled and nodded.

"That's what you need to do in these Games. Be resourceful with what you have around you." I kissed him. I can't believe he knew exactly what my name meant.

"How do you know all this?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

"I have my ways." He said.

"How can you possibly know this?" I asked.

"I have my ways." Gage repeated.

"Gage O'daire, you are something else, something magnificent." I told him.

"Wait, what's your middle name?" I asked. It was only fair, he knew mine, I should know his.

"William," He replied.

"It's a family name, dating all the way back to Finnick. His middle name was William, and every male in my family since then, has had that same middle name." That made me happy to know that. We sat there talking and joking, both of us had lost track of time.

"There you are!" Damien said, bursting out onto the roof with us. We both looked at him.

"Cordelia tipped me off that you might be up here." He explained.

"Tatum, we have to get you ready to go." Gage and I looked into each other's eyes.

"Not yet, it can't be." I said. Gage looked to Damien.

"We have to go," He said looking back at me. I held onto him and buried my head in his chest.

"I don't want this moment to end." I admitted.

"I know, neither do I." Gage whispered in my ear.

"We have to go." Gage finally said, breaking our embrace. He got up and pulled me to my feet. This was it. I looked across the Capitol one last time. There was a very big chance that I was going to die before I ever got to see it again. I was going to die as a source of entertainment to these people. I turned around and let the two of them guide me to the elevator.

As the Prep Team assembled around me, I didn't say anything. In fact, I hadn't spoken a word since the rooftop. I let them shower, dry, brush, braid, and polish me. I wanted to ask them if they had realized they were preparing a lamb to lead to slaughter. I wanted to ask them if it was worth it. The only two that could make eye contact with me were Bravo and Cordelia. I had on navy blue leggings, a matching tank top. The boots were black and lighter than expected. I was put in a black jacket that tailored in at my waist. On the right sleeve was 4 in silver and white, it was also on the upper left corner of my jacket. Once they were done, Bravo placed my necklace around my neck, and tucked it into my jacket.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror. The extensions had come out of my hair, but some of the color had stuck in my original hair. My hair was done like it had for training yesterday. I closed my eyes.

I remembered the sound of Saturday mornings in the house. Usually Eliza would come bursting through the door at some ungodly hour and wake me or Moira up. Odds were, if I had just snuck back into the house after watching the sunrise with Gage, Eliza would come hurling into my bed. Whoever was her lucky target that morning, would lull her back to sleep while the other got up and made breakfast. Over breakfast there was lots of talking and laughing. I smiled and opened my eyes. Bravo and Calypso stared back at me. I turned to face them.

"Thank you both, for everything that you've done, it has meant to so much to Bryson and I. Please let the others know." I told them. The rest of their crew had left by then. They surprised me by hugging me. Next, I went out into the hallway. Gage and Damien were waiting, leaning on the walls.

"Where's Raven?" I asked.

"He's not a Victor, he wasn't allowed to see you before the Games." Damien stated.

"Please tell him I said thank you," I paused. "And that he has a great left hook." I added, trying to joke.

"How much longer do we have?" I asked.

"We have time." Damien replied. Ironic choice of words. The three of us walked into the food area. I nibbled on little bits and pieces of food, but knew I wasn't going to really eat anything.

"Don't you want to know the Game Maker's scores from last night?" Damien asked. Gage and I were in our own world last night into this morning and hadn't cared about anything else.

"Oh yeah," I was suddenly nervous to hear what they had thought of me.

"Who scored the highest?" Gage asked, curious.

"Gunner, from 1. He got an 11."

"That's not surprising. He was out to make a big impression at training." I responded. I popped a red grape into my mouth.

"There were two 10's. Onyx," No surprise there, that girl was going to lay it all out on the line.

"Who else?" I asked, expecting Glitter.

"You." He replied. I was confused.

"What?" I asked, sure he was got it wrong.

"Tate, what did you do in there?" Gage asked.

"Yes, what did you do?" Damien echoed.

"I showed them what I could do with a knife, but it wasn't that impressive. It was nothing like what I showed you two on the train." I tried to explain.

"Did you use any other weapons?" Gage asked, intrigued.

"I picked up a trident for a couple of minutes, but then that stupid person said." I stopped.

"Oh," I said, realizing what had happened.

"'Oh' what?" Damien asked.

"There was a person that made a snide comment about tridents and people from 4." I looked down.

"Temper?" Gage asked. He knew.

"Lost it a little bit." I picked up another grape and ate it.

"What did you do?" Damien asked.

"I marched over to where they were all eating. Someone, a trainer, I think, got in my way…" I trailed off. I hadn't killed the person or anything, but I was angry and I got to hit something. It certainly got their attention, anyways.

"Who did they announce first, Onyx or me?" I asked. This would settle my approach to her.

"Her, and then you." Damien told us.

"Good," I replied.

"Followed by Fury, the boy from 10," Crap, I had forgotten about him. He was the biggest threat to all of us in the alliance. Hell, he scared me when I first saw him on the television.

"Then Glitter, and our own Bryson." Damien announced. I had scored above Glitter.

"I'm excited for Bryce. Do we know what he did?" I asked.

"Cor, won't tell us." I smiled. Cordelia was good at keeping secrets.

"Glitter cannot be happy. She's going to want my head served on a silver platter." I noted. I think I was at least in Onyx's and Gunner's good graces so they would stop Glitter from killing me, and at least I have Bryson and Liam on my side.

"I can't imagine she was happy you scored above her." Damien noted before continuing.

"Then Liam and Leo got 8's." I smiled; Liam proved that he deserved to be with us, which is more than I can say about the pair from 3. Both of which scored a 7, along with the boy from 5 (which was surprising) and the snarky flower-named girl from 6. We had our alliance, and it seemed the pair from 3 were the weakest, thus furthering my questioning of having them with us at all. Liam was good for a hunt and an excellent shot from what I saw. I didn't really pay attention to the other scores the rest of the Tributes had gotten.

I got up and went to get water. I didn't need anyone serving me. I put my hands on the counter and hung my head. I didn't want my sisters to watch this. I didn't want them to watch me get killed. I didn't want them to suffer if I couldn't come back.

"Tate," Gage said, placed his hand on my back. I turned around and hugged him.

"Don't let them end up on the streets. Please, whatever happens, please I know you can't take of them, but make sure they're okay." I told him. He wrapped his arms around me and promised me. Once he promised me that, I started to become the warrior I knew I had to be, the girl that score a 10 from the Game Makers. Neither of us wanted to pull away, but we knew we had to. Damien didn't say a word.

"So what do you think? What should I do?" I asked him.

"Stick with your alliance. Kill whoever gets in your way. Be careful of the other alliance you, Bryce, and Liam have. If you three act too close or do everything together, it will throw off the others and they'll attack. Also, you and Bryce should never sleep or hunt at the same time." He took a deep breath.

"That way since you've sworn not to kill each other, you can at least look out for one another."

"I know you think it's silly, but I'm not going to change my mind about that." I stood by what I had said before. Cordelia came into the room, followed by Lionel and then Bryson. We wore matching outfits. We nodded at each other, not speaking.

"I guess this is it." Lionel was the first one to say anything.

"Where's the Prep Team?" Bryce asked.

"Once they finished with the two of you, they had to go take their seats." Gage explained.

"It's just us six then," I said. I studied Lionel's face. It was worn with wrinkles and had developed an almost leather-y look because of the hours he had spent in the sun. Cordelia's raven hair was pulled back, making her look older. She looked like she hadn't slept in years. She may have tried to kill me a couple of days ago but she looked downtrodden. Damien's eyes were focused, as if he were watching a chess game, invisible to the rest of us. Then, I looked at Gage. His nose was crooked from when he broke it a year ago; actually, I had broken it on accident. He could have had it fixed but kept it the way it was. There was a small scratch right above his left ear he had gotten from when he was in his Games. Then I looked at those green eyes of his. I had to look away. I put my hand to my head. Gage put his hand on my back. At first, I leaned towards his touch but I pulled away from it. I shook my head.

Two Peacekeepers arrived. We were told that, "The Tributes were to be taken down. While everyone else please take your seats". I got up and took a step towards the Peacekeepers.

"Wait, its tradition." Lionel stopped us. He held out his palms on either side of his body. Damien grabbed his hand and Gage's. Gage grabbed my hand, I held Bryson's, who held Cordelia's, who completed the circle with Lionel. Lionel said a prayer to the sea gods, asking them to watch over us and protected us. I wanted to point out how pointless it was, sea gods couldn't protect us in the Arena, but for once, I was comforted by the thought of something from home right before going into the Games. We broke hands. Bryce and I hugged before Cordelia led him away.

"I'll see you in the Cornucopia." I told him.

"See you there." He replied. Damien started to walk to the hallway to the right. Gage grabbed my hand and led me behind him. The Peacekeeper started to protest Gage coming with us. Damien spun around.

"If you so much as open your mouth in the next twenty minutes to complain about a fellow Victor in front of me, I will personally see to it you don't speak again. After the Games start, if you still have a problem tell the Head Game Maker himself, and you can tell him if _he_ has a problem with it, then he come face me. Do you understand?" He spat venomously. I smiled as the Peacekeeper nodded. We got on the elevator and went as far down as we could.

We were taken to vehicles that transported us to the Arena. It only took five minutes. We got to the building. We stopped.

"Why are we stopping?" I asked.

"We have to inject you." The Peacekeeper said.

"Inject me, with what?" I was slightly horrified.

"It's to keep track of you in the Arena." He replied. He grabbed the needle and injected me in my stomach. I couldn't help but say 'ow'.

"That burns." I admitted.

"I know," The Peacekeeper said, quietly.

"Do you?" I asked.

"Yes," he admitted. I gave him a curious look. I guess the Capitol wanted to see where their Peacekeepers were at all time. We started to walk down a corridor. It wasn't well lit, and my heartbeat increased. Everyone's words were racing through my mind. The Peacekeeper stopped, and held his hand up to Gage and Damien. I stared at him.

"There are new rules this year; Peacekeepers are to deliver Tributes to the Hole alone. No Victors or others allowed passed this point." The man stated. This time I turned to him.

"If I win these Games and find out you are lying right now, his threat of you never speaking again is going to look like a miracle. Do you understand me?" I threatened him. I heard one of the boys' guff. The man stood his ground. Damien put his hands on my shoulders.

"Good luck. Use those observation skills you have. You may not know it but I watched back in 4. You can manipulate people to do things. You can also manipulate things to look like other people did them. Use those observation and manipulation skills to your advantage. Always carry at least one weapon with you. And one last thing," He paused.

"Don't die." Damien told me. I smiled at his last piece of advice. He said before turned around and walking away, presumably to go to his seat, or control or wherever he was going. My stomach began to do flips.

"Watch everything around you. Remember all the training we did on the train. Tate, be ruthless. Win this and come back to me." He told me, hugging me. I never felt so desperate to stay in his arms.

"I love you, Gage." I told him.

"I love you, Tatum." He echoed my sentiment.

"It's time." The Peacekeeper announced.

"You were trained for this. You know what you need to do." He put a loose piece of my hair behind my ear. He nodded his head once. I nodded back. The Peacekeepers led me away, down the empty hallway.

"Tatum," Gage yelled. I turned around and stared at him.

"Be a shark." He told me. I smiled his comment.


	18. Let the Games Begin

_**Here we go! Thank you times so much for reading my story. For those of you that have stuck with me since the very first chapter, to those of you that just picked it up, thank you! This is the chapter that everyone has been waiting for- the Games begin (hence the title). Let me know what you think! I've given a couple of clues to how/what the Arena is doing/set up- any guesses? Don't forget to review. xoxo**_

-Let the Games Begin-

The Peacekeeper led me down the darkened corridor. I didn't talk to him, I acted as if he was beneath me, after all, that's what everyone would expect from a Career, isn't it? I grabbed the locket underneath my jacket. Then, let it fall.

I let my mind wonder about my sisters and my mom. I hoped that she loved me as much as she did when Moira and I were little. I was always closer with my dad. After he died, mom couldn't look at me for days. Everyone always said I was the spitting image of dad. These last couple of years had really put a strain on mom and me's relationship. I was starting to regret the last words I had said to her, well really yelled. It was in the white room after the Reaping. I bet Eliza would be crying, and I knew at least two of my sisters would be clinging to Moira right now.

I wished they didn't have to watch this. I wished none of this had to happen. Both of the Rebellions had happened so long ago, it was stupid to keep these Games up. I think that it is stupid to pick twenty-four kids to go and kill each other and broadcast it live on television and force citizens to watch. I wondered if Gage's four-times great grandfather, Finnick, felt this anxious about to go it. I wonder if Gage felt it. Did my grandfather feel like he was going to throw up at any given second walking these halls? I remember once, when his mind started to go towards the end, he was babysitting Moira and me and he started telling us about how the Games were the worst time of his life. No matter how hard he tried, he could never leave them behind.

"Do you watch the Games?" I finally decided to speak to the Peacekeeper.

"Yes, Miss. Starlight." He sounded like a robot.

"Any advice?" I asked, not expecting any. We came to a glass tube with a door open. This was the method of transportation to the horror that is the Hunger Games.

"Don't fall off the plate." He said. I looked at him. He held my hand while I stepped in. I could hear Oscar Megaphylla's voice booming above me. The Peacekeeper leaned into me.

"It might be windy and the sensors won't hesitate to explode if you step off it a second before the timer gets to zero." He admitted. Got it. Do not step off the plate. He shut the door. I couldn't hear anything but mouthed a thank you to him. He nodded once.

There was a countdown starting at thirty. At twenty the plate started to propel me slowly upwards. I tried to hold onto the walls with no avail. At twelve all of us Tribtues were all up. This is it. My heart was pounding in my chest; I thought it was going to leap out of my chest. We were all facing each other in a giant circle with a huge array of weapons in the middle, up on a hill. It was literally a pile of weapons. There were various random objects scattered the ground. This is real.

Ten. I looked to my left, where there was Liam. I smiled. Nine. I looked to my right. The boy from 12 was hunched over fiddling with something. Eight. He grabbed his shoe and hurled it at me.

"What are you doing?" I screamed at him. I was horrified. It was heading for my head. I couldn't fall off this plate. I would literally explode. Please, dear gods in the sea let me catch this huge boot currently hurling at me.

I somehow caught it. Seven. Six. As he was throwing his other boot at the girl from 11I launched the boot back at him. The blow had knocked the girl from 11 off the plate and she exploded into a fireball. Five. Four. He looked back to see my expected fireball. His face was in shock when the boot hit his face. Three. It launched him backwards and he could do nothing to stop himself from falling. Two. I saw his body ripped in a hundred pieces as the fireball exploded. One. There was a huge gong that sounded, telling us the Games had started. It took me a second to realize, I could finally get off the plate. I couldn't look away from where the boy had just been standing.

"Tatum!" Someone screamed. I looked to my left, Liam was already half way to the weapon pile. Crap! I have to move, I have to get a weapon! While my first instinct was to run into the field behind me, and find a good hiding spot, I was a Career. I couldn't follow my instincts and that was something that didn't sit well with me. Beyond Liam, I saw the flower girl grab a backpack and run into the wooded forest to the far left. I looked to the right and saw Fury take down the boy from 9 by smashing his head into the ground. I did not want him to take me on next; I sprinted as fast as I possibly could.

"Bryson, are you there?" I screamed. Just ten yards from the pile. I heard the weapons and metal clashing already.

"Tate, I'm here!" Bryce screamed. I smiled. I was only five yards from the pile when I got blindsided. Someone tackled me from behind. I didn't even see who it was. I flipped myself onto my back and punched with my left fist. It was the girl from 10. She was desperate and scratching at me. She had no weapon. It was an easy jab with my left hand and a hard right punch that sent her flying backwards, off of me. She hopped on me again before I could get up.

There was a stinging pain in my chest. I looked down to see her holding a small dagger in her hand. She had just slashed my chest. I was not amused. I grabbed her wrist and bit it. The pain forced her to drop the dagger. She had actually thrown it and it landed a couple of feet away. I used both of my legs to kick her off of me; she went spiraling backwards, this time several feet. I dashed to the pile and grabbed the first thing I saw. It was a spear. I turned around and launched it at her. She had no time to react. It stuck in her stomach; she fell back dead. I checked where everyone was around me. No one was heading towards me. Liam was half way up the huge pile.

"Tate," he yelled. I looked up. He had his bow in his hands and arrows in a sheath on his back. He threw me a trident. I knew I had liked him, but I now officially loved this boy. I found a bunch of knives and shoved them in my belt. I ran around the bottom of the pile. Gunner had taken down a girl from 12 with an axe. Glitter and Onyx were double teaming the boy from 5. Bryce was fighting the boy from 6. My heart lurched as I saw the girl from 5 run up behind Bryson.

"Bryson get down!" I screamed at him. He looked my way.

"Drop!" I yelled. Bryce quickly sliced the boy's upper leg as he dropped to the ground. Just as I was about to launch the trident at the girl, she fell into the boy from 6. There was an arrow promptly lodged in the middle of her back. She fell, dead, into the boy. The two tumbled onto the ground. I grabbed a knife from my belt and ran as fast as I could to Bryson. He made a quick movement and then hopped up.

"Thanks," he said as I got there. The boy from 6 was dead, Bryson had slit his throat. I grabbed the trident out of the girl.

"Let's go see if anyone needs our help." He said. I nodded, trident firmly held in my hand. We jogged over to where Gunner and Leo stood. The two were sorting through weapons and packs.

"Grab anything you fancy or find useful. We'll have time to plan everything once the others get done." Gunner gave the command. Olivia came over; looking scared, with no weapon on her. Her district partner had blood on him with a piece of blooded wire in his hands. Maybe he wasn't as useless as I had thought.

"I'm going to see if Onyx and Glitter need help." I stated as I jogged over to the girls. Glitter had just swiped his legs out from under him. Onyx delivered the final blow, spear through the heart. Glitter stood up as they turned to me, I had slowed down to a walk.

"Just coming to see if you needed help," I told them.

"You've been cut." Glitter said, pointing to my chest.

"Oh, right," I had forgotten about it. I had carefully taken off my jacket, to reveal my wound. I guess adrenalin had taken over and I hadn't really felt pain until they had pointed it out.

"You need stitches, but you'll live." Onyx assessed, as we inspected it. It wasn't that deep of a cut, but she was right, I needed a couple of stitches to hold the two flaps of skin together.

"I see you've gotten your trident," Onyx noted.

"And you your spear." I told her, I saw her smirk as we walked towards the rest of our alliance.

"I need a medical pack." I said.

"What happened to you that you already need one?" Leo asked sarcastically as he tossed me one. He caught a glimpse of my chest bleeding and only replied with an, "Oh". Bryson shot me a look and took a step towards me, but I shot him a look and shook my head no once. He stayed where he was. I started to clean the wound. The alcohol stung more than I thought it would. I found everything I would need for stitches. I looked at my wound and sighed. There was no way I could give myself stitches in this particular area, at least not without them being jagged and uneven.

There was a roaring boom over the Arena. I jumped. I realized that meant the death canons had started. There were eight of them total. A hovercraft came and collected bodies of the fallen.

"Hey you," I said, calling to the boy from 3.

"Yeah you, come here. You look like you're good with your hands." I said. I carefully put everything on the backpack, not letting it fall to the floor. I set my jacket down and took my tank top on. That meant I was only in my pants, boots and bra.

"I need you to give me stitches. Ever do that before, give someone stitches?" I asked. He nodded his head. He sat down, I followed his lead.

"My name's Tatum," I told him.

"I know what your name is. Mine is-"

"Jon, I know." I cut him off.

"How did you know I have first aid training?" He asked.

"I didn't, lucky for me that you do." I replied, shocked. I balled up my jacket and held it in my hand as the needle pierced me. During his third stitch there was a cool wind that blew through the Arena. It drew a wave of chill over me. I wanted to scream the entire time, but I wouldn't allow myself. It took five stitches total. He placed a big bandage over my wound. I put back on my blood soaked tank top and my jacket. Luckily, the jacket gave me some warmth back.

"Eight total," Glitter stated. "Onyx and I got the boy from 5." She announced.

"What the hell happened with you during the countdown?" Liam asked me. All eyes were on me.

"The boy from 12 took off his shoes. He threw one at me, but I caught it. He threw his other one and it knocked the girl from 11 off the plate, she exploded. I launched his shoe back at him; it hit him square in the head." I explained. We couldn't have been in there for more than an hour and there were eight people already done. I had killed two of them. The pair from 3 was the only ones that hadn't killed anyone.

We grabbed as much as we could and decided to find a place to camp. The cold breeze rolled through again. I was glad our jackets kept us warm. I carried a pack with a bunch of food, smaller weapons and water bottles. I had my trident in my hand. I had found a bunch of throwing knives and a carrier. I wrapped the carrier around my upper thigh for a quick reach, if I needed them. As we walked around the Cornucopia, we realized there were four separate set ups. One section led to an open pool of water. It was definitely salt water; I knew Bryce felt the same joy I did when we first discovered it. Another section was a vast field of wheat and other plants. Another was a dense forest, and the last had mountain like terrain.

We had decided to set up at the mouth of the forest. This way we would have a good shot to see over the Cornucopia. Olivia and Jon and rigged the other side of the weapons pile. If anyone tried to run straight at it from the wheat field, they created a line of bombs to explode. I sat back and rested, while Onyx started the fire. Leo and Bryson gathered wood and twigs to make it. I noticed Olivia was talking to Gunner, while Liam and Glitter were talking. I saw that the sun was starting to go down. Just this morning, I had watched it go up with Gage. I sighed and put away that memory. I wondered if he longed for home as much as I did when he was in my shoes.

Another boom went off. Someone else was dead. That makes it nine dead in the first day, alone. The Game Makers would be thrilled with that. There were fifteen of us now. That was a sobering number, seeing as how our alliance made up nine people. That meant there were six other people out there hiding, possibly scared and alone. I doubt Fury was scared, or even worried for that matter.

There was a pink light that filled the air. Immediately, all of us stopped moving.

"Good evening, and happy Hunger Games!" It was Oscar's voice. I'd love to punch that man. He didn't say anything else but instead the sky filled with the picture of the girl from 11. Next was the boy from 12 that I had taken out. This was the death count for the day. Then, came the picture of the boy from 9.

"Fury bashed his head in." I told everyone. The girl from 10.

"Who got her?" Leo asked.

"I did, she was the one that gave me the chest wound." I replied, still looking at the sky. There was the girl from 12.

"I killed her." Gunner admitted. Next was the girl from 5.

"I shot her." Liam claimed. We weren't taking credit for our victims with pride, but just admitting to it. I wasn't proud that I had killed both of mine but it made it so I was still here, breathing. The boy from 6 came up.

"I killed him." Bryson said. It seemed so wrong to hear those words come out of his mouth. I looked over to him. He met my gaze, before we looked back at the sky. The boy from 5 came up. We had already known that Onyx and Glitter had taken credit for him. The final face in the sky was the girl from 8. I wondered how she had died, but really, there was no telling.

"That means Fury is still out there." Glitter said disdainfully. My, she was observant. We split up rations for bread and food. Something wasn't sitting right with me about the boy from 3 but I couldn't put my thumb on it. Sure, he had given me stitches, but what was it? I pondered over it as we all sat near the fire, eating. It was getting colder as night progressed.

"Bryson, this weather reminds me of our cold season." I told him, over the fire.

"Yeah, it does." He chuckled.

"Who wants to take first watch tonight?" Olivia asked sounding both cheerful and sounding exhausted at the same time.

"I'll take it," Bryson said. I smiled.

"I'll join you, if you don't mind." Onyx said.

"Sure," Bryce replied, cheerfully. I was glad the two of them offered to keep watch, considering I was not about to volunteer myself. I was tired from staying up half the night with Gage and then our early morning shower and sunrise festivities. How was it possible that was the same day as today? Now, I was in a camp with eight other people at the mouth of a forest, in the Hunger Games. I was sure it was a lifetime ago that Gage and I sat on the roof throwing a pebble into a force field.

How was I going to sleep with Glitter near me? I sighed. I guess I really wasn't going to sleep here. Liam plopped down next to me. Liam! He'll protect me.

"Thanks for the trident earlier." I told him.

"You're welcome." He replied.

"How's that wound?" He asked.

"I'm still alive, for now." I told him. He had a crooked smile. It somehow reminded me of my father. He used to smile out the side of his mouth too. We made makeshift sleeping areas and I was quick to snuggle up with Liam.

"Scared of the bogyman?" He asked me.

"Not him, I could take him." I stated.

"It's the other girls that worry me." I admitted. We fell asleep just inches from each other. We fell asleep, somehow.

Something jerked me awake at the crack of dawn. I sat straight up. My being awake had startled Onyx and Bryce. There was a feeling that I couldn't shake that wouldn't allow me to go back to sleep. I got up and moved quietly towards the two of them. I told them that I was up and that one of them could sleep. Bryce gladly accepted. Onyx and I sat there in silence.

"Did you and Bryson know each other before the Games?" She asked.

"Not really. I mean, we went to school together, I'm older than him. He's in my sister's class." I admitted.

"What about you and Leo?" I asked her. She took a deep breath.

"Yeah," She said, sighing.

"Is there a story behind that sigh?" I asked.

"We used to go out, but things didn't work, obviously." She replied. Man that would be awkward. I imagined Jimmy Spitz being in here with me in place of Bryson. I would have killed him.

"How have you not killed each other?" I asked her.

"We're Careers," was all she answered. Careers tended to have each others' backs and when the time came, they turn on each other.

"This cannot be easy for you. That's just plan awkward." I said. She nodded and our conversation went silent. The others began to wake in two hours time. When everyone was up, we decided to explore more of our surroundings and what this Arena really held for us. We had survived the first night.


	19. Lucky Me

_**Happy Hunger Games my lovelies. I'm very excited and can't wait to go see the movie tonight at midnight. I hope it is everything we are expecting and more. I believe I have a couple of new readers so thank you so much for reading! Nathan I'm glad you like it, thank you so much for the wonderful compliment. MissFiyeraba- just you wait, I have the ending planned- mind blowing. Thegirlwiththebraid- just because you said so, I guess I'll have to. Haha There are a couple twists thrown into this chapter. The lyrics at the beginning are really because I'm obsessed with the beat of that song lately. Enjoy! Xoxo **_

"_I guess that I don't need that though. Now you're just somebody that I used to know. Now you're just somebody that I used to know."_ –Gotye featuring Kimba "Somebody that I Used to Know"

Lucky Me

Overnight, it had gotten viciously cold. As we extinguished our fire and gathered all our things, snow began to fall from the sky. I scrunched up my nose and looked up at it.

"What's the matter Tatum, never seen snow before?" Olivia asked.

"We don't usually get snow in 4. The lakes freeze and everything, but we just don't get snow." I said, disdainfully. Snow never brought good memories with it. In school Megan and Annalisa always talked about how they always wished it snowed during the cold months. Megan would state that snow made everything look cleaner. Then, the two of them would look at me and apologize. My two best friends in my class knew how much I hated the snow.

"What about you, do you have lots of snow in 3, Olivia?" I asked her.

"It snows for two months then stops." Jon replies. What was it about this kid that wasn't sitting right with me? Leo and I were the two in the front of the group, scouting things out.

"We should see if we can't find a water sources that isn't salt water." I told him.

"Why's that? There's a giant pond over there we can get our water from." Olivia said, loudly. If there was one alliance member where I would not argue at all to take out, it would be her. She was a noisy, useless little girl. At least Glitter, although has an unfortunate name, was useful and knew how to handle a weapon. There was no way she was playing any type of game, could she really be so dull?

"You can't drink salt water. It dehydrates your body." I explained.

"If you drink too much of it, it overwhelms your body and you can die." Bryson further explained.

"Oh," She said. I looked over at Leo. He shook his head. Why were we keeping this one around? What did Damien tell me before the Games? I was observant, I could manipulate things. Maybe I could kill her and make it look like someone else did it. It was a thought.

"Shh," Leo said, holding out a hand. I grabbed my trident, ready to launch it. I looked up at the trees, searching for any sign of life. I walked off to the left, still searching all around. No one was really near me. There was a moment where I closed my eyes and tried to use my other senses, like the boys had done with me on the train. I heard something shift. I immediately opened my eyes, turned around and pinpointed where I had heard the noise come from.

Perched high up in a tree was the boy from 7. He had a bow and arrow and looked terrified. I drew back my trident, taking aim. I saw the look of defeat on this kid's face. There was no way he was passed twelve years old. He knew I had seen him, so it was a showdown between us. He didn't even try to draw a bow. I was set to send my trident spiraling to end him but I couldn't do it. I shifted my eye gaze, several feet below him. I heard the sound of a twig snapping and shifted to see who had made it. It was Gunner.

"Find anything?" He asked.

"No, just a lot of trees and leaves," I lied.

"Come on," I told him, leading him away from the scared little boy. The snow fall picked up as we continued to explore. I shivered as a wind cut through the trees. The jacket was keeping all of my body heat locked into the jacket itself, but my legs were cold and I was miserable. We stopped to set up camp for the night. We actually found a cave that would nicely house us from the elements.

"I don't think we're that far from the lake or pond that we saw yesterday." Leo said.

"I saw fish in there yesterday." Bryce said.

"Want to go see if we can't catch some fish to fry up?" I asked. Bryson and I were the obvious 'we' I was referring to. The pair from 3 wanted to take along, along with Glitter and Leo. That left Onyx, Gunner, and Liam back at the cave. I didn't really expect to have a field trip to the water source but who am I to say no. Leo was right; the salt water lake was only down the hill from us. It was completely frozen over.

"So much for fish," Jon said starkly. Bryson and I looked at each other and smiled.

"I'm guessing they know something we don't," Glitter said to Leo, noticing our exchange.

"We'll have fish, don't worry about it." Bryce said stepping out onto the frozen lake.

"How thick is the ice?" I asked him. He stabbed a hole into it with his sword. If it had given way and he fell into the water, he would only be about knee deep.

"I'd say two-three inches." He replied.

"We're fine," I said, walking straight out onto the ice. Bryce and I got about twenty yards out.

"Are you sure this is okay to walk on?" Leo asked, concerned.

"Yup," Bryce and I replied at the same time.

"And you're sure you can fish through this ice?" Glitter asked, hesitant.

"Yup," I answered.

"Why is she so confined about this?" Glitter asked to Bryce.

"Her family is some of the best fishermen in 4." He replied. I smiled, proud.

"And, I've been doing this since I was five, whenever it gets cold." I asked, getting further out on the ice.

"What's the matter, scared of a little ice?" I asked the rest of them, hesitant on the ice. Bryce and I found a spot we liked and began to chip away at a hole. While we were working, Bryson accidently cut himself on the edge of the sword. Seeing the thin layer of red on the sword triggered my memory. When I first saw Jon yesterday, he was blooded but carrying a thin wire that was covered in red. Yet, he hadn't killed a person in the battle of the Cornucopia. It was a curious thing. I didn't trust him as far as I could throw him. What a sneaky kid!

Bryson chipped away at the hole while I made a net. We had forced Jon to relinquish his wire that he valued so much. I wove it around the trident making a pretty good net.

"I've come a long way, M." I said. It wouldn't make sense to anyone, but I knew my sister heard the message. She was the first person to teach me how to make a net with a trident. I wanted her to feel proud of me, just for simply making a net. I held it up to inspect it.

"Not bad," Bryson noted.

"It'll do." I wish I could have gotten something that would move a bit better in water, but you have to use what you have. I put it down into the water. I saw what looked like a catfish swim by. I couldn't help it. I jabbed it with my trident. I pulled the trident out of the water and smiled, seeing a squirming fish at the other end of it. I took it off, carefully so it wouldn't drop back into the water. We left things alone for five minutes and somehow collected only one fish through the net.

"Here, take the net, put the other fish in it. I'll just use the trident." I took out the net and handed it to Glitter. Bryce had snagged another fish with the trident while I was handing over the net. He placed it on the ground, and went to put it in the net. Jon and Olivia were just standing there, awkwardly staring at the hole. They were making me paranoid hovering around. I started to bend over to grab the trident.

"Would you relax, it's-"

Before I knew what happened, I was emerged in the freezing water. I kicked my way to the surface and took a giant breath when something dragged me back down into the water. Somehow the light from the sun was shining down into the water. While I couldn't see above the thick ice, I could see two other bodies. I'm assuming one of them pulled me down. It was Jon and Olivia. I couldn't find the opening of the hole. I didn't panic.

I heard a scream through the water. I spun around. Jon had stabbed Olivia in the chest with a dagger. There was a dark blob of blood spilling out of her. He grabbed his secretly hidden knife out of her and set his sights on me. I knew it! I knew he was an evil ass! I turned to grab my trident, I couldn't find it anywhere. I must have dropped it when I fell into the water. Weapon, I need a weapon. Jon sliced my leg, it wasn't deep but it stung. I kicked him in between the balls. He dropped his knife but punched my chest. He got behind me and kicked my back. Was this really happening? Were we really fighting underwater? I knew he was running out of oxygen that always made people desperate. The cold in the water was starting to get to me.

He yanked my hair as hard as he could. Now, that was uncalled for. Never go after a girl's hair. I felt something on my leg. I elbowed him. I heard a crunch through the water and knew I had broken his nose. I reached down and grabbed one of the small knives. I found him and stabbed him. As he was dying, he shoved me and continued to fight. The last blow I really remember was him kicking me in the head. It made me so discombobulate, it took me a couple of seconds to gather myself back together again. I was starting to run out of air. Everything looked the same. Jon wasn't there anymore. I saw a faint light. I swam towards it. I shivered as I pushed myself through the freezing water. I found the ice. I banged on it with all the strength I had. I kept moving around, I couldn't find the hole the three of us fell through. Crap. This wasn't good. I grabbed another knife and started to pound away at the ice. My body was too cold. I didn't have enough oxygen.

I can't die from drowning, I'm from 4, and everyone knows me as a strong swimmer. I had to be down for at least two minute, pushing three, but with this cold there was no way I could reach my limit. The most I'd ever held my breath was a little over four minutes and that was with Gage there to yank me out of the water before I passed out. My body started to relax. I still tried to chip the ice away, but to no avail. I was growing weaker, my body was shutting down. going to die in these Games, I'm so sorry sisters. I'm so sorry Gage. My world went black.

"Two of them are dead." Glitter said, surprised.

"My money's on the pair from 3." Leo said.

"Jesus, Tatum, come up." Bryson said.

"Are you sure that you should stand that close? I mean that's where they fell." Glitter asked, moving away from the hole.

"Tatum, come up," Bryce whispered. He had had enough. He took off his jacket and stationed himself at the mouth of the hole.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Leo asked. Bryson stuck his head in the water. He let out a curse underwater because it was so cold. His head popped up.

"She's right here. Help me." He yelled. Glitter came over to help.

"When I grab her, pull her out." He instructed, moving to a different angle. He put his head back under again and both arms. Bryson came up with a body.

"Grab her!" He yelled out of fear and cold. Glitter grabbed her arms and dragged her backwards, out of the water.

"She's not dead," Leo said, coming over, now intrigued with the situation.

"Watch out," Bryce said. He put his lips on hers. She was so pale, her skin looked almost translucent. She wasn't moving and it didn't look like she was breathing, either. He kissed her again, her lips were purple.

"What are you doing?" Glitter asked.

"I'm trying to save her." Bryce replied pushing on her chest. He repeated the process, kissing her then pushing on her chest. Glitter watched.

Tate's leg twitched. Bryson pushed on her chest again and this time, she coughed. He sat her up and pushed her to her side. She threw up water.

I was sucking in as much air as I possibly could. I was freezing and coughing up water. What just happened? I was shaking. I looked at Bryce. I was confused, but I knew he saved me. I hugged him and clung to him.

"Thank you," I whispered, as my teeth chattered away.

"You're welcome Tate," He replied.

"Holy crap," Another voice said. I looked up, passed Bryson and saw Glitter and Leo. It took me a minute to stand up. I took three steps and fell, I was too weak to walk.

"I can carry her." Leo volunteered.

"I don't need to be carried." I said.

"Go ahead and take two steps on your own." He challenged. I frowned. I could do it. Wait a second, use this to your advantage Tate! Play their Game, save your strength.

"Fine," I said, unhappily. He picked me up and I shivered as we walked to the campsite. I was shivering so badly, I had trouble staying awake.

"He killed her." I struggled to say.

"What?" Leo asked. I didn't say anything.

"Did you catch any fish?" A female asked. I couldn't even open my eyes anymore.

"What happened?" I heard from a male voice.

"We need a blanket or two. Get her by the fire." Glitter commanded. Leo led me straight into the cave and put me down close to the fire. Glitter took off my jacket.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"If you want to live, you need out of these freezing, soaked clothes." She said. Onyx came in.

"Do we have any spare clothes?" one of them asked.

"She needs out of those clothes and into dry warm ones." Glitter stated.

"Actually if we put her close to the fire, in just her underwear and a blanket wrapped around her, it'll work better." Bryson said. No one said anything.

"Alright fine, it's your decision." Glitter said, leaving. I felt each one of the boots being taken off as well as the socks. I was lying on my side, facing away from the fire. He undid my belt and pulled my pants off. The truth was, I could have taken off my clothes, but I was too tired. At least, that's what I told myself. When he was pushed my tank top off me of, I looked into his eyes.

"Don't enjoy this so much." I told him, sleepily. He smirked.

"Here, lay these out so they'll dry." He said. I'm assuming he meant my clothes. Bryson moved me clothes to the fire. He wrapped a blanket around me, tight so it would hopefully trap my body heat.

"Leave me with a weapon," I told him, curled up, almost into the fetal position. He nodded and handed me a small knife. It wasn't much, but at least I wasn't without a weapon.

"Keep breathing." He told me. I nodded; all I wanted to do was sleep.

"He killed her." I told him. I needed to tell Bryson.

"What?" He asked, leaning in closer.

"Jon killed Olivia. He stabbed her with a dagger. Then, he came after me." I told him. I closed my eyes.

"I stabbed him with one of my knives." I admitted to him. I didn't hear a reply because I was already asleep again.

I don't know how long I slept for. My clothes still weren't dry so all I had was a blanket covering me. Everyone was outside the cave, making me feel uneasy. I got to the mouth of the cave; it was dark out. The sky was pink again. It showed the girl from 7. Then, everything disappeared. I guess it was the end of day 2. I still felt really out of it.

"How many died?" My voice was hoarse.

"Three," Liam said.

"You should get back in there, unless you want to die from freezing." Onyx said in a snarky way.

"We don't happen to have any extra clothes do we?" I asked, hopefully.

"No such luck." Gunner replied. I looked to the sky, optimistic. I frowned; Damien wasn't going to send me dry clothes.

"Get back in and sleep before we decide to make you stand watch in your underwear." Liam told me. I marched back into the cave near the fire.

"I punch you one time, _one time_ and you won't send me clothes." I grumbled under my breath. Damien was doing this because I had punched him in training when we were coming to the Capitol on the train. I murmured incoherently shuffling back to the fire. I lay down.

I fell back asleep for a couple of hours but once I woke up, I couldn't sleep no matter how much I just laid there. Gunner was lying across from me, a couple feet away. I heard him sigh, quite loudly.

"Are you sleeping?" I asked.

"No, you?" He replied and then asked.

"No," I stated the obvious.

"Are you going to kill me when I finally pass out? If it is, it would have been easier to let me drown."

"Probably not, is that your plan, to kill me?" He asked. I toyed with the idea in my head. It wasn't a bad plan, and it would certainly have the element of surprise.

"No," I sighed, ruling it out.

"You tired?" I asked again.

"Not really." We lay in silence for a minute.

"How's your boob?" He asked. Oh yeah, he's a charmer.

"It's not my boob; I got cut on my chest." I corrected him.

"Do you even know where boobs are?" It slipped out before I could let the sarcastic comment sit in my head.

"Yeah, right here." He reached over and grabbed my boobs, both hands, both boobs.

"Did you really just do that?" I asked him, surprised. I sat up.

"Yup," He replied. You could almost hear the smile in his voice. I will not punch him. I will not punch him. Tatum, you still need this idiot. I told myself over and over again.

"Sit up." I commanded. I heard him sit up, he moved close to me.

"I saw your interview." Gunner stated.

"Is that so?" I asked him. Come to think of it, I had seen him close to the stage when I came off.

"You've gone out with a lot of boys and you're looking for a man?" He asked.

"Yup," I replied. Then, I had a stroke of brilliance.

"What, think you're man enough for me or something?" I asked egging him on.

"What do you think?" Gunner asked me. I shrugged my shoulders and pursed my lips together in a smile. I didn't even have to wait a full thirty seconds before his lips were on mine.


	20. Rage

_**My usual a/n. I'm not going to lie; I saw the movie twice in a 30-some hour span. I realize that going to a midnight premiere then having to be at a meeting at 7:40 a.m. is not a smart decision for me anymore. I loved the movie, I really did. I wasn't thrilled that they left out a few key things, but I understand why. And let's face it, the books are **__**always**__** better than the movies. I have everything mapped out until the end of the story right now. Crazy, in so many ways, just crazy. Once again, thanks for the reviews- they really keep me going! I hope you enjoy lovelies. –xoxo**_

"The tricky thing Is yesterday we were just children Playing soldiers Just pretending Dreaming dreams with happy endings In backyards, winning battles with our wooden swords But now we've stepped into a cruel world Where everybody stands and keeps score.  
>Keep your eyes open." –Taylor Swift "Eyes Open"<p>

Rage

It wasn't that Gunner wasn't a good kisser, but he wasn't Gage. All I could hear in my head was Damien telling me that they just wanted to be entertained. The Capitol people and the Game Makers just wanted to be interested in the Games. I opened my eyes to see if he had any weapons in hand. There was nothing; he really wasn't trying to pull a fast one on me. I let him kiss me again. _This is a game. This is part of a game_. I repeated to myself. I pulled back and looked at him. Gunner was good looking. He was all muscle, and really looked like he had been breed for these Games. I shivered. _I want my clothes. _

"I need to sleep," I said. He nodded his head.

"Body heat will keep you warm, and I have a sleep bag." Gunner said. He was a tricky one. He was right, body heat will keep me warm, and a sleep bag will keep the heat in so I don't freeze. I sighed.

"Bring it over." I told him. We used it as a blanket, as well as the blanket that I was using as a robe. He lay on his back and I snuggled up with my back to him. _Pretend its Gage. Pretend he's Gage._ I used his arm as a pillow.

"I mean it; I really do need to sleep." I warned him. I was not above castrating this poor boy for trying to do something while I need to rest. I closed my eyes and slept until dawn. When I first realized I was awake, I smiled, feeling a warm body next to me. I opened my eyes and turned around. My smile dropped when I saw Gunner not Gage. I couldn't even pretend he was Gage, the probability increased with every hour that we would indeed have to kill one another. This was just a boy.

I checked my clothes, they were finally dry. I put them back on. There was a hole in my pants where Jon had tried to cut me. It felt nice to actually wear clothes again. I was most thankful for my jacket, keeping all my body heat in. I checked outside, Glitter, Liam and Leo were all up.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Seven," Leo said.

"I can take over if someone wants to sleep." I told them.

"I was thinking of going hunting." Glitter said. Leo agreed to join her. That left Liam and I to keep watch. Once they left, the two of us talking.

"We're lucky we found this cave for cover, it snowed more overnight." He stated.

"I hate snow," I admitted.

"I guess you can't really fish much in the snow." Liam remarked.

"You can. The snow killed my father." I stated, irritated with the weather. He looked at me.

"We had a blizzard, the worst one in all of 4's history. Dad went out on the boat. It snowed so much while he was out on the sea, you couldn't see which way was up, let alone what direction you were going. He couldn't find shore, so he threw his anchor down. It was so cold and the snow was so relentless, everything froze onboard." I told the story. It felt like everything in me went numb. Every time it snowed, it reminded me of the giant void my father had left.

"Okay, I get why you hate it now." Liam replied.

"What about you, it seems like you're used to the cold. Lots of snow in 8?" I asked.

"Not a lot, I'm just used to it being cold I guess. I haven't seen this much grass in my whole life though." Liam admitted. There was silence between us. It was odd to think they we were all experiencing new things as far as the climate and weather goes here in these Games.

"I have to ask, what's the deal with you and Gunner?" I knew he was worried about me teaming up with him and going back on our alliance. I looked at him. I didn't know if the others were sleeping or not, and I definitely didn't know where Glitter and Leo were. I was not about to freely admit what my plan was out loud for everyone to hear. I leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"They just want a good game. If I draw him in, somehow I can use that against him and kill him." I whispered. I knew there were cameras everywhere. Liam smiled his crooked smile at me.

"Tatum from District 4, you are something else." I smiled. I pulled my knees to my chest.

"Why not have some fun before one or both of us dies?" I asked, trying to hint that I really was trying to hook up with another Tribute and have some kind of relationship in the Games. It'd be beyond stupid, but it might work. At least it would spark interest from sponsors.

"Tell Bryson, when you two are alone. He should know." I instructed him. Liam nodded. Leo and Glitter came back with a large bird that I had never seen. By that time, everyone had gotten up.

"It's poisonous," Bryson announced.

"Are you sure?" Leo asked.

"Yes," He said as-a-matter-of-factly. Well, that was enough for me; I wasn't going to eat it. We decided to get more gear by the Cornucopia. It wasn't until we were walking when I realized it. Bryce and I took the rear of the group.

"Oh damn," I said.

"What?" Bryson asked, walking next to me.

"I don't have the trident. I dropped it when I fell in the water." I was really upset about it.

"Tate, I'm sure they'll have another at the Cornucopia. At least you still have a knife." He said.

"True, you want to give me back the rest of them?"

"Sure," He was getting them back to me, when I saw a fast little figure.

"Hey!" I heard Onyx said, pointing out the boy.

"Go get him!" Leo barked out. The seven of us quickly surrounded the boy. He was from 11.

"Who wants him?" Gunner asked. We looked at each other. Glitter acted quickly, before any of us said a thing. She grabbed a spear and launched it. There was a crunch as it embedded itself into his skull. _At least it was fast and he didn't feel it_, I told myself. There were three more left besides us. This was not going to be pretty.

We kept walking and made it to our destination. Surprisingly, it took us half the day to get back. We wanted to go avoid the field of mines and booby traps the Jon and Olivia had set up. Since they weren't here, we didn't want to take the chance and blow ourselves up. It was warming up a little bit; the snow had at least stopped. Liam and I volunteered to go hunt while everyone set up camp.

"You sure that's a good idea? Last time you went hunting you fell through ice." Glitter said. _Jesus, what did I do to this girl? _

"You got your fish, didn't you?" I asked her, grabbing a couple bigger knives from the pile. Leo and I geared up and set off to find game. We headed towards the edge of the forest. We got a pair of squirrel looking animals. I heard an odd noise and immediately turned around, knife in hand, ready to throw. It was the boy from 7, perched high in a tree, bow and arrow drawn. The arrow wasn't aimed at me, but had another target.

"Leo!" I screamed. The arrow was buried in the middle of his neck. He fell to the ground. As I was watching him, the boy had fired a second arrow. It had clipped the side of my left arm. I looked back at the boy, he shot a third arrow but it missed me and embedded itself in the bark of the tree. I screamed, knowing it would alert the others. I looked back, the boy was hoping from tree to tree. I threw a small knife at him, but he hopped to another branch just as the blade would have hit him. I grabbed the arrow from the tree. Maybe I could somehow use this later, I told myself. I could surprise someone, perhaps. I shoved it in the back of my pants and covered it with my jacket. The boom of the canon didn't go off, Leo was still alive.

"Tatum," I heard him say. I crouched down and gently rolled him onto me. His shaggy hair was wet, and sticking to his head. I brushed it out of his eyes.

"I can't feel anything. I want Onyx." He admitted. I heard running near me.

"Onyx," I turned my head and screamed as loud as I could for her. I was giving away our location to anyone that was potentially tracking us but I couldn't help it. Leo was going to die. He was paralyzed, and it looked like he was getting weaker by the second. Onyx's hair was flying in the wind when she came running up. Glitter, Gunner and Liam came running behind her.

"Leo," She said, falling down beside him. I got up.

"What the hell happened?" Glitter asked, astonished.

"We were tracking these geese like birds. The boy from 7 shot at us hit Leo. I threw my knives at him but I couldn't get him." I told them. Gunner grabbed me, assessing to make sure I was alright. There was a cut in my jacket and my left arm was now bleeding. Liam was beside me in a blink of the eye. I looked at the two boys then I watched Onyx hold Leo.

He whispered something to her and then the boom of the canon went off. I looked at those around me. Glitter looked stunned. She and Liam turned around to give them privacy. Gunner touched my wound, it stung. I moved my arm from his grasp, rather uncomfortable. I did move on his other side and hold onto his arm.

"Are you okay?" He asked. I nodded my head. I would be fine. I hugged him. He kissed the side of my head.

"I missed. I threw my knives at him, but he jumped too quickly." I admitted.

"It's okay. You're here." He told me. We could all hear Onyx cry. Leo was dead. An outsider had killed one of us. Yes, we all realized it would most likely come down to us beating and killing each other in this alliance, but it was like there was a bond between us. Everyone thought Jon and Olivia had drowned; died of natural causes. Leo was one of us. He was from 2! And an outsider had done the deed.

"Where did he go?" Onyx demanded. I wiped around. Tears were still fresh on her face.

"Which way did he go?" She asked again, nostrils flaring.

"He hopped from tree-to-tree in that direction." I stated, pointing in the direction where I had missed the boy from 7 with my knife.

"I'm going to go kill him now." Onyx stated whipping the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. She grabbed her spear and started to run. Liam and Glitter ran after her.

"Go back and put something on your arm." Gunner told me, he went to run off. I grabbed him and kissed him hard before letting him run off. I grabbed the animals Leo and I had killed and started off towards camp.

When I got back Bryson was surprised to see me.

"Do I want to know?"

"The boy from 7 shot me and killed Leo." I stated, sighing. His face was a mix of perplexed, surprised and confused. I took off my jacket once again and grabbed it while Bryson poured some water on it. It stung but I only gripped my jacket tighter. There was a parachute falling down. Bryson grabbed it.

"Medicine for you," he stated. He applied a generous amount to my arm.

"While we're at it, we better put some on that chest wound." I took the bandage off. It was still red and mean looking. The medicine stung as he applied it. I read the note that came with the medicine.

"Develop an exit strategy, now. –D" We had a little bit of bandage left and I let him wrap my arm and give me a clean bandage on my chest.

"We need a plan, to get out now, Bryce. We're going to turn on each other in a second." I was referring to our alliance.

"Onyx snapped," I stated.

"What's our plan? How do we leave?" He asked. I sighed and put back on my jacket.

"I have an idea, but it's risky." I sighed.

"You are the crazy one out of the two of us." I shot him a look, but smiled.

"I'll keep up this thing with Gunner, all night. Tonight, we need to get bags and weapons ready to run. Tomorrow I'll try and see if I can't convince him to go hunting with me. I'm going to kill him. When you hear me scream, you send Glitter and Onyx to see what happened. You and Liam grab the gear and run. That way it's a clean break, take as much stuff as you can, leave them with as little as possible." I told him. I could see Bryson think it over.

"You may be an evil genius." He paused.

"I don't like it." He said referring to my plan.

"What's wrong with it?" I asked, starting to skin the animals. Bryson was silent for a couple of minutes.

"You could die," He said.

"Oh Bryce, you're so sweet. If he kills me I'll still scream and give you and Liam an out." I said.

"He's strong, Tate, and he's a full head taller than you." He stated.

"I know you saw me take Gage out on the train, and he's strong than Gunner. Don't underestimate me, Bryce." I jammed a sharp stick through the animal and put it over the fire.

"In all seriousness, if I die, you have to win." I told him.

"I don't want to think about that." He replied.

"You can do it, Bryce. If I die, it needs to be so the rest of them need to meet with Fury. Let them take each other out, and then you take out the last one. Do you understand?" I asked him.

"How about we change your plan?"

"How so?" I asked.

"You can flirt and kiss Gunner all you want, seduce him into the woods tomorrow. Kill him while all of his attention is on you. Scream to give us the signal then run like hell. Meet us back at the cave. We'll figure out what to do from there." I stared at him.

"Who's the evil genius now?" I asked.

"What do you think?" He asked.

"Bryce, I like it." I admitted. He smiled.

"Still not going to kill me?" He asked. I looked up at him.

"No," I stated, very seriously.

"You know I won't kill you, either. What happens if we're the final two?" He asked.

"We could both win. Bryce, it's happened before."

"They would never let it happen," He stated, putting another animal over the fire. There was screaming in the woods. The pack had found their prey. I picked up a pack and started to pack it with necessities.

"It could happen. We could both go home." I told him. He grabbed my hand. The two of us looked into each other's eyes. There was a canon boom.

"Why don't we leave right now?" He asked. I heard laughing, near us.

"That's why." I stated. Bryson pulled his hand away from mine.

"We can do this." I told him. Onyx was covered in blood. I didn't want to know what she had done to the boy.

"Did you find who you were looking for?" Bryson inquired.

"Hell hath no fury like Onyx scorned." Gunner joked, sitting next to me. Onyx sat down and dropped the spear, covering in blood.

"Oh, please, don't kill me," Glitter mocked, laughing. I snuggled into Gunner and smiled at him.

"He got what he deserved." I lied through my teeth.

"Yeah he did." Gunner replied. Onyx sat in silence; no one talked to her, but simply talked around her. While the sun was going down, Gunner and I were sitting next to each other. I was flirting and playing with him. At one point, everyone was silent. I watched Onyx; no one was looking at her. In fact, no one had even spoken to her since they had gotten back.

"He wanted you, he asked for you." I told her. Her eyes jumped up to meet mine.

"You deserve to know that." I admitted. There was silence around the fire.

"Thank you," She told me. There was darkness behind her eyes. Onyx had snapped, she wasn't the sarcastic girl I had joked with before. She had had something taken from her. Now, she was in the Games. She was filled with rage, and that, that was very dangerous.


	21. Lamb to the Slaughter

_***I know I haven't updated in a really long time. I apologize, things have been crazy with my life lately, between grading, dealing with a sick family member, work and anxiety attacks it has been rough trying to find some time to write. It doesn't help that I wrote and then rewrote this chapter probably five times. I had to get it exactly how I wanted it, to set off the rest of the story and I really think it'll pay off. Thank you for being patient with me, you all are the best! I have the next chapter all ready to go, but need to go tweak a couple of things and do some fine tuning to it before posting, so hopefully I'll have it up before Monday or Tuesday. Please let me know what you think about this by hitting that review button! xoxo***_

"Run, run, run away Buy yourself another day. A cold wind's whispering secrets in your ear So low only you can hear. Run, run, run and hide Somewhere no one else can find. Tall trees bend their leaves pointing where to go, Where you will still be all alone." -The Civil Wars "Kingdom Come"

Lamb to the Slaughter

I kept watch over night. Coincidentally, so did Gunner. I kept Gunner occupied for as long as I possibly could. I flirted with him, teased him and kissed him. At one point we were sitting, facing each other, with our hips touched, kissing. Gunner started to kiss my neck, I looked up at the dark grid. He stopped for a minute, taking my cheek in his hand. I looked at him, confused.

"You're not thinking of me." He stated, reading my face.

"Of course I am," I lied. We were less than an inch from each other.

"That's fine. I'm not thinking of you either." He admitted. I ran my fingers over his head. He smirked. As long as we both knew it, I guess it was alright. I nearly jumped on him, attacking him with kisses. Gunner reciprocated back. I think we were both so desperate to hold onto the person back in our districts that we loved. I held onto him and buried my head in his shoulder. His arms were wrapped around me. His thumb was rubbing the back of my neck.

"I have to sleep," He said. He was mocking me for what I had told him last night.

"Yeah, yeah," I replied. I kissed him again, this time with my eyes open.

"You just don't want me to try to sleep," He joked. I nodded and smiled, kissing him again. He sighed and leaned into me. We played this game for at least another hour before he really did lie down and go to sleep on me. I ran my hand across his back, as he slept. Once he was asleep, I got up to stretch. Guess I was the only one keeping watch tonight, after all. I grabbed three bags and started to make sure they were packed with things that we would need: rope, knives, water, any leftover medicine, bandages, and matches. I could throw my blanket that was currently wrapped around me in it in the morning. I heard an unnatural snap in the field. I immediately stood up and found the knives that I was so apt to throw. I couldn't see anything but I had definitely heard something.

"Something out there?" Glitter asked, I did a double take when I heard a voice.

"I think so, I just can't tell what." I told her in a hushed voice.

"Where's Gunner?" She asked, curious.

"He fell asleep," I explained.

"Typical, he never was good at paying attention or following directions." She laughed. I smiled. We sat for a while by the fire.

"You don't have to stay up; I won't fall asleep like someone else we know." I told her.

"I couldn't sleep," She admitted. Glitter asked about the noise that I had heard earlier. I explained that I hadn't heard it since then, and that it was probably some type of animal in the Arena.

"Hi there," Gunner said, wrapping his arms around me and kissing my neck.

"Glitter, what are you doing up?" He asked, surprised.

"I couldn't sleep, unlike you."

"Oh relax; it was just a cat nap. I'm up now."

"And I had everything under control." I added.

"You should go and try to sleep. You need your beauty rest." He teased her.

"I need beauty rest like you need to hook up with her. This is not what you were trained for Gunner." She sneered. _I get it already, you don't like me. I get the message loud and clear._ Glitter got up and went to the tent we had made earlier in the day.

"What does she mean by trained for?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. I knew how 4 had prepared us, but I wondered how 1 trained them.

"We go to a special school for training. I've gone for the past four years, Glitter for the last three." Gunner explained.

"She is such a gem." I told him. He laughed.

"Glitter's just bitter." Gunner told me.

"What do you mean?"

"She comes from a line of Champions. Her two times great-grandfather, then her mom." He trailed off.

"Her brother volunteered four years ago. Glare was the favorite, but he didn't make it out." Gunner explained. _. _My mind went blank. No wonder why she hated me. Gage won those Games. Now that I think about it, he had killed the boy Tribute from 1. It had come down to the two of them. Gage was with me in the halls, he took me to training. He was with me before the chariot rides; we had talked a lot in public places. There was no way she had made the connection between us. No one had. There was no way a girl from 1 had made the connection. I had to put it out of my mind.

"That's too bad," I told him, slipping into his arms. We stayed like that for a while. I was thinking strategy the entire time I was in Gunner's arms. Our move had to be made tomorrow. There was no way around it. You could tell Glitter was nearly seething when she was around me, Onyx wouldn't hold up much longer. How was I going to stash my backpack? There wasn't any way to exactly seduce a guy by taking him into the woods with a backpack on. A)Not sexy, B) too suspicious. Then it hit me, I had to pee. I got up and stretched for a minute. Sitting for long periods of times, made me antsy, stretching helped to calm me down.

"I'll be right back." I said, grabbing the bag. I held it out in front of me, hoping to somehow shield it from his view.

"Okay," I heard replied back. I took a few more steps away from camp.

"Wait, where are you going?" Gunner asked, confused.

"I have to use the bathroom." I explained, looking back at him over my shoulder.

"Why don't you just go over there," He suggested by the outskirt of the field.

"Uh, maybe you can. Girls can't pee standing up, and I don't exactly want you to see me pee, that's weird." I told him.

"Whatever," He replied. I walked away into the woods. I needed a solid place to stash this bag. I cut a mark in a tree, went three trees down and one to the right and buried my pack under some leaves and branches.

I could leave, right now. I have a pack; I could run away right now. I could run and leave them behind. I could hide and wait this thing out. I couldn't think it over to too long. They'd turn on Liam and Bryson in a minute. It wouldn't be right. I won't Bryce. I had to get back before Gunner thought anything was suspicious. The truth was, I had been out in the wood longer than I needed to be, especially if I was only going to the bathroom like I had said. How could I change the subject?

I did my best to saunter into camp. Gunner didn't say a thing but just watch me. It seemed to be warming up throughout the night. He was sharpening his sword. I sat next to him. I saw a bug crawling. I held the knife and flicked it with my wrist. It landed in the center of the bug.

"You think we should hunt down Fury tomorrow?" His question caught me off guard. I looked at him, surprised.

"I think it'll be easiest to bring him down with all of us as a group. Isn't that who we've been hunting down this whole time?" I asked, curiously.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." He said. I moved so I was sitting next to him. Our hips were touching.

"One thing about me is that I'm always right." I joked. He rolled his eyes and laughed.

"I was thinking," I started.

"That's dangerous, don't hurt yourself."

"Oh please," I said playfully hitting his arm.

"Do you think there's ever been a time where they didn't have a winner?" I asked. Gunner looked at me.

"There has always been a winner." He said.

"What do you think would happen if there wasn't?" I asked.

"Is this about what you were screaming about after your interview?" _What? Oh my tantrum where I blew up after giving my interview_.

"Something like that. How do you even know about that?" I asked. I didn't think he was even there when I went off.

"You were pretty hard not to hear." He admitted.

"Is that so?" I asked softly. Gunner smiled and kissed me. It's sick of me to get some type of satisfaction in him wanting me. Maybe not me, but the two of us were using each other. If I lived through tomorrow, how the hell was I going to handle all the issues that stem out of being in these Games? _Don't get ahead of yourself Tate. That means you actually need to make it through tomorrow._ We messed around until someone relieved us of our duty. I actually fell asleep on him, he was holding my hand. Someone shook me awake. I had a firm grip on my knife and sat up.

"Relax killer. It's me." Bryson said. I rubbed my mouth. I think I was drooling. I looked back at Gunner; sure enough I had been drooling on him a little. _Wow, embarrassing Tate. _

"What are you doing?" I asked confused.

"I was going to go get some water. Onyx is going to go with me." I yawned. I didn't like his plan.

"Be careful," I warned him. She wasn't the same as we had seen her so far in the Games. The look I gave him said everything.

"I will."

"Did you tell Liam?" I asked quietly, just in case Gunner was actually awake. Bryson nodded his head.

"Don't take too long."

"I'll be back soon." Bryson promised. I woke Gunner up. He seemed as confused as I was when Bryce had shaken me awake.

"What?" Gunner asked.

"Wake up, you were snoring." I told him. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. We met the others by the fire. We put it out, not needing it. I looked at Liam. His eyes met mine for a moment. Bryce had told him our plan. He shook his head. I glanced at Glitter and Gunner, they weren't paying attention. I nodded my head. This was going to happen.

This was the day to put my plan into action. We would turn the tables on this alliance. If I could kill Gunner, I knew that I could win these Games. Glitter and Onyx would go after each other. Or if not, they would track me and hopefully run into Fury. Let the three of them take each other out. How many were left? 9. Glitter, Gunner, Onyx, Bryson, me, Liam, the girl from 6, Fury and the girl from 9.

How was I going to kill Gunner? That was the big question. I had thought of a brilliant plan, I mean perfect plan but Onyx I'm pretty sure chopped the boy from 7 into little bits. I had stolen an arrow he had tried to shoot me with. I could have killed Gunner, planted the arrow in his back and scream like I had with Leo. Once I had screamed, I could disappear and still blame it on the boy from 7. Maybe I shouldn't have told Onyx which direction that kid went. My alibi and plan went out when she killed him.

Gunner wasn't going down without a fight. It's not like he was going to roll over and let me kill him. Hell, he was a favorite to win these Games. I had to make sure he had no weapons on him and that all of mine were concealed. There was no way that I wanted him to steal a weapon off me and then kill me with it. I would need to essentially put weapons down my pants to hide them. I'd keep my knife with me. Maybe that arrow I stole. My mind was racing. I finally started to tune into what the group was talking about.

"We really need to get him." Glitter said with disdain.

"What about those two girls?" Liam questioned.

"He's more of a threat." Glitter replied.

"We outnumber him. It'll be easier to take him out now." I chimed in, siding with Glitter.

"I'm glad someone has some common sense and agrees." She said, looking at me. We made plans to wait until the others get back then hunt down Fury, if we happened to run into the two other girls that would be a consolation prize. Onyx and Bryce came back with water. I looked at him and hoped he could read my mind. This was it.

I was as flirty and seductive as I could possibly be with Gunner. At one point I was sitting on top of him while we were kissing. I pulled back. He opened his eyes and looked at me. I glanced towards the woods and bit my lip.

"Let's go," Gunner said, jumping up and grabbing my hand. I giggled as we ran off into the woods.

"Where are you two going?" Onyx called.

"We'll be right back." I yelled as we ran into the wood. I made sure to find a spot near my pack but far enough away that the others couldn't see us. He pushed me against a tree as we kissed. I opened my eyes as we made out. This was it. This was the moment. I reached behind my back and grabbed the arrow. I plunged it into his shoulder blade. I saw the look in his eyes when he opened them. Hurt, pain and shock all in a single look. As I reached down to grab a knife he grabbed my head and threw it against the tree. I kicked him in his chest, but he caught my foot and twisted it, so that I twisted around and fell to the ground. I jumped up quickly, as he removed the arrow from his shoulder.

"Are you kidding me?" He asked me. I looked at him. Gunner was in attack mode. He struck first this time. I blocked his blow with my arm and kicked him in the ribs. I went to run to my pack. Gunner grabbed me by my ponytail then threw me against the tree. His massive hands closed in around my neck.

"It's cute that you think _you_ can kill _me_, sweet cheeks." He said. I punched him as hard as I could. His head snapped to the right but he shook it off. I reached down for a knife but he lifted me up, off the ground. He kissed me, maliciously. This caught me off guard. My hands wrapped around his wrists so I could at least partially hold myself up. I flailed my legs trying to get him off me. With my right leg I managed to hook my toes in between our bodies. I wiggled my foot in between us and kicked him backwards, right in the groin. Gunner dropped me to the ground and flew backwards.

"I'm not going to die and certainly not at the hands of you." He said.

"I hate to disappoint you but you're wrong." I replied. We stood, facing each other, ready to go again. It was me who made the first move this time. I jabbed him in the jaw and he grabbed for one of my knives. He got swiped me across my cheek then went for a kill shot. I jumped out of the way and roundhouse kicked his head. I went to grab the knife from his hand but he had a solid grip on it. Gunner grabbed me and pulled me close to him. He went to stab me in my chest but I caught his wrist. It came down to muscle and strength at this point.

"You're not going home Tate, I'm going to win this." He whispered in my ear. It was taking everything in me to keep the knife away from me. Gunner moves quickly. He drops his left hand from the knife, taking it in his right hand. He finds another tree to shove me against; with his left wrapped firmly around my throat again, his right hand drops to stab me. I somehow catch his hand again and struggle to fight. I can't kick him. I claw at him with my left hand but it barely does a thing. I can feel the oxygen starting to cut off. The knife is getting closer by the inches now.

_Not like this!_ My head is screaming. I have to go home. I have my sisters waiting for me. All I can think about is my family as I feel myself desperately craving air in my lungs. Something happens and I can't register what it is but I know that I'm on the ground. One second Gunner's hand was wrapped around my throat and he was just about to stab me, then, I was thrown back from the tree and fell to the ground. I hear a high pitched ringing noise. I push myself up from the dirt, gasping all the air I can. Gunner is on the ground, not really moving. The knife is a couple feet in between us. I grab it and nearly dive for him. I stab him in the chest, near his heart for good measure.

"I have to go home." Gunner's grey eyes glare at me.

"I'm sorry," I tell him as he shuts his eyes and dies. I can hear a sizzling sound in my left ear now. I grab the knife and stand up. Gunner's dead. I look to my right, things are on fire where the field was. The explosion must have happened in the field that threw me to the ground. I run towards the pack that I had stashed hours beforehand. The cannon goes off. I hope Liam and Bryson know what to do at this point. I grabbed the pack and can see a head with long black hair heading my way.

I run as fast as I can up the hill diagonal, trying to put as much distance between Onyx, Glitter and I as possible. I hear a scream, a very distinct female scream and know it's my head their after now. I'm the one their hunting. I run faster. Minutes roll by and I still can't get the ringing out of my right ear. I run as fast as my legs can carry me. I glanced behind me to see if I could see Onyx or Glitter coming for me. I run straight into something. I fall backwards from the impact. I grab a knife immediately, out of instinct. I push myself into a sitting position. It's the flower named girl from 9. She looks petrified. I look behind me again and jump to my feet. Flower girl and I make eye contact as she gets up. She takes off in one direction and I take off in the opposite. I don't want to fight her, I want to get as far away from my broken alliance as possible.

I lose track of time but eventually find my way to the cave Bryson, Liam and I agreed to meet at. I whistle out two notes that anyone from District 4 would know. I didn't get a response. I peered in the cave but nothing, no sign of the boys. I climbed a tree to see if somehow I could see them.

It was getting warmer now, like the springtime in 4. I waited up in the tree for a long time. As the sun began to go down, I knew two things. One, I had killed Gunner, and two, something had gone wrong, the boys should have met me by now.


	22. Anything You Want

_**Note before my note- I tried uploading this story on Friday but for some reason it wouldn't let me. **_

_***Hi my fearless readers! My computer's been having some issues so I'm lucky that I can even update this right now. Warning- you may want to grab a box of tissues. I cried when I first wrote this over a month ago and got a little watery in the eyes while editing. Also, I really did expect this to be super easy to edit but this chapter is such an integral part of the story I decided to change things around a bunch. Let me know what you think, even if you hate my guts for what happens (and I have a hunch a couple will be ready to throw tomatoes at me). Until next time. Xoxo***_

"The promises we made were not enough.  
>The prayers that we had prayed were like a drug.<br>The secrets that we sold were never known.  
>The love we had, the love we had<br>We had to let it go.

Tell me would you kill to save a life?  
>Tell me would you kill to prove you're right?<br>Crash crash  
>Burn, let it all burn<br>This hurricane's chasing us all underground." 30 Seconds to Mars (Hurricane)

"_Anything You Want"_

I couldn't sit here in the tree all night. If the girls were as smart as I think they are, they would check here. I let out the same whistle as I had before, to alert Bryson, if he was around. No reply.

"Bryce, where are you?" I asked, quietly. My mind was starting to tear me apart. I couldn't worry about Bryce, as much as I wanted to. I smacked my right ear, the high pitched ringing had grown softer but it was still there. I couldn't shake it.

I sighed, carefully climbing down the tree. _If you haven't heard cannons boom, that means he's alive. _ I had to repeat that to myself, over and over again. Bryson was still alive. I hit my ear again, trying to make the ringing go away. I used to get ear infections when I was younger from spending so much time in the water, and got ringing like this in my ear.

Where could I go? The field essentially blew up. What the hell happened there? I wasn't exactly mad about it, seeing as how Gunner was about to kill me when it blew up and broke us apart. The water would be too obvious. I needed to distance myself from the forest. There was mountainous looking terrain to the east, so I started to walk in that direction.

"Bryson, wherever you are, please stay safe." I muttered. I walked for miles, hearing nothing other than the sound of my own footsteps and the ringing. I found a stream. I took a handful of water in my hand and sniffed it. I grabbed the water testing kit in my backpack and put the dye in it. It was clear; good, that meant that it wasn't poisonous. I gulped the water from my hands and filled it up in the bottles. I washed off my face and when it stung, I realized that I had gotten a cut from Gunner. I washed out the wound and then kept going. It was getting darker, faster now.

I found a solid tree to make camp at. I climbed up to the second branch and harnessed myself in. I was dripping with sweat once I was done. The jacket was keeping me cool but I was still sweating. I was exhausted. I checked my surroundings again before shutting my eyes. I fell asleep quickly. I jerked awake when I heard the anthem playing. I almost forgot where I was and had to catch myself before falling.

One cannon. Only Gunner died tonight. I imagined the people in 1 were already plotting my demise. They'd probably give Glitter a bomb to shove down my throat, if they could. The breeze rolled off the hills and threw the trees. My hair danced in the wind. The flower girl that I had run into was still alive, as was the girl from 6. My heart jumped, Bryce and Liam were still alive, but so were Glitter and Onyx. That wasn't going to help me sleep sounder tonight. I got a chill run down my spine when I realized Fury was still alive and now it was his turn to hunt. He had to know that the Career alliance was broken, seeing as how now two of the boys were dead, four of our original nine weren't breathing anymore.

I took out the medicine that I had saved in the backpack. It wasn't much but I smeared on the salve onto my cheek. Gunner had cut me deeper than I had expected. When I closed my eyes to sleep, all I could think about was how I had manipulated and brutally murdered him. I led a sheep to the slaughter. I pushed the thoughts from my head and forced myself to sleep.

Halfway through the night I woke up to a blood curdling scream. I panicked for a moment. Bryce? No, it was a girl's scream for certain. How close was this to me? The screams were loud enough to wake me up, but came from farther away, in the direction of the cave almost. The screaming went on for hours. I knew it was Onyx and Glitter. They were playing with their victims. I tried to block out the screams and cover my ears.

I somehow shut everything out and fell into a light slumber for what I guess was another couple of hours, until sunrise. I climbed down from the tree and stretched my limbs that were stiff. I was tired and rationed the water and what little bread I had left. It was day number five in this hell hole. I walked for hours; I had finished a bottle of water and saw no stream or pool of water. There were no animals around me here, either. I didn't mind. It was quiet so I could hear someone else approaching.

My throat felt scratchy from Gunner trying to choke me to death. When I touched my skin there, it was tender. I was still exhausted. I found a solid tree and climbed up. The girl from 9 was the only one to die. Fifteen hours later I still hadn't moved. I felt no need to, but I was beginning to get hungry and dehydrated. Luckily, Damien sent me bread and two bottles of water. I only took a sip of the water, thinking it would be better to save it. I remained harnessed to the tree. If I could, I would very well wait out here and hide until these Games were over, or there was one other person left.

In the mean time, I had figured out the arena. It was playing out the four seasons and the characteristics of them. We had started in the fall, with leaves changing and a cool breeze rolling in at night. Then, it turned to winter. Everything froze and the snow bore down on us. Obviously, I didn't have the best knowledge of how to handle full blown winter and didn't have a good time seeing as how I fell through the ice. Now, it was spring, with a light and airy breeze. Next, would be summer and hopefully come the heat that I missed. Tomorrow would be summer. I would be in my element.

I heard a blood curdling scream. It literally pulled me out of sleep, again. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and sat up, while reaching for a knife with my free hand. I couldn't have been asleep that long; the seasons had yet to start changing. I heard the scream again. It was a male's scream. My heartbeat began to speed up; there was a pit in my stomach.

"Bryce," I whispered. _No, it wasn't him. He was too quick and too smart to have been caught by them. _I told myself. The person screamed again. I covered my ears, not wanting to listen anymore. The screaming stopped but no cannons were fired. It had to have been them to find and then torture whoever their unlucky victim was. Anyone else in here would have just killed the tribute and been done with it. The killer or killers in this case were ruthless, taunting, and playing with their victim. It just screamed of Glitter. Fire burned through my veins, I refused to be that person in here.

Judging from the sound of the screams, it was to the north of where I was perched in the tree. It had taken me so long to climb up here, I really didn't want to hop down, but if the group or whoever it was behind the devastating screams were coming this way, I would be a sitting duck. I watched in that direction for five minutes before making a decision. I began to pack up everything in the backpack I had stolen. I heard a very distinct tree branch on the ground snap. I immediately froze. I heard footsteps. They were coming from the north. I had a knife in my hand, ready to throw at a second's notice. I carefully, looked around the trunk of the tree to see whoever was coming my way.

I gasped in horror; you couldn't recognize who it was. At first glance, the person was covered from head-to-toe in blood. I could tell it was a boy because of his short hair. This was without a doubt the screaming victim. I covered my mouth to keep from throwing up at the mere sight of this bloody victim. He held his jacket around him, to stop his blood trail from being detected from his torturer. He was missing two fingers from his left hand. He was wheezing and had started to limp with his right leg. I finally saw his face, my eyes grew wide and my heart sank.

"No, Bryson." I said. Through the blood and dirt covering his face, I knew it was him. I grabbed my pack and swung it to my back. I looked to see if he was being followed before I quickly climbed down the tree. He jumped when he heard me slid on the tree.

"Bryce, it's me. It's Tate." I told him. I jumped the last five feet and landed on my feet. I turned around and rushed over to him. When I saw him up close, I was so much shock, I couldn't speak.

"Tate," He said, desperately.

"We have to get you out of here." I told him. I grabbed the sword he had been clutching and led him to a space about a quarter mile away that I had passed and scouted two days ago. I helped him sit against a tree trunk.

"You can put down the jacket." I said. As soon as he released it from around him, I got to see his wounds for the first time. I wanted him to put the jacket back on. It felt like someone had sucker punched me in the gut. I had to force myself to breathe. There was a cut across his upper chest, it wasn't deep but a flesh wound. Bryson was missing his pinky and ring fingers on his left hand. He had a pretty nasty gash on the side of his head, but the worst had to be his mid-section. There were three deep cuts, almost in a diagonal. The middle one was the deepest.

I wanted to throw up, to hit something, to cry, to pass out, something, anything, a hundred things at the same time but had to fix it, to fix him. Immediately, I threw my bag on the ground and started riffling through it. I had to help him. Each second brought a hundred questions through my head.

"What are you doing?" He asked, watching me move frantically.

"I can fix it." I said.

"Ta,"

"I can fix, I can make it better." I said quickly. I used my knife to cut off his shirt and poured an entire bottle of water on his chest. I grabbed a piece of cloth and began to clean off the blood and dirt from him.

"Tate stop," Bryce said.

"No, I can fix it. You'll be fine." I said, determined.

"Tate," He said, grabbing my hands. I looked into his eyes.

"You can't fix this." He told me.

"I can," I nodded, I was sure I could I assured myself.

"Look at me, look at these wounds. You can't fix this. Tatum, you cannot save me this time." He said. Once again, he sounded years older than what he really was. Bryson was still holding both of my wrists. My heart felt like it cracked. If I couldn't fix him, I couldn't save him, and that meant he was going to die.

I shook my head no, refusing to believe it. I could fix this, I assured myself.

"Yes, Tate," Bryce replied, still holding my hands. _You can't fix this_. _You cannot save me_. His words echoed in my head. He was going to die. Bryson, my fellow tribute and friend from 4, the only person from home here, was going to die. I had to tell myself this, it was pretty apparent but I still needed to state the obvious for myself. Goosebumps covered my arms and legs. If Bryson was going to die, I was going to be here for him, to try to comfort him the best I could.

"I'm here for you, what can I do? What do you need?" I asked him, as he let my wrists go.

"Water, would be nice." He said, smiling. I fought back tears. I nodded my head, searching in my pack again. I opened a bottle and held it to his lips. He drank half a bottle and sighed.

"Does it hurt?" I asked him.

"A little, but it's going numb." Bryson replied. I knew what this meant; his body was starting to shut down. He let me wash off his face.

"If you could have anything in all of Panem, what would you want?" I asked him.

"Anything I want?" He asked.

"Yeah, anything you at all," I told him. He thought it over. I looked around, almost trying to find cameras to signal to Cordelia and Damien send Bryson whatever he wanted.

"First, I would want a blanket or something; I'm starting to get cold." He said.

"I have a blanket, here." I said, grabbing the light, blue blanket out of the bag. I wrapped it around him, carefully.

"Okay, that was easy. What else, what else do you want Bryce?" I asked.

"I want that bread from O'Leary's, with the little pieces of cranberries in it. It's always been my favorite." He said.

"I like it too." I said, smiling faintly.

"Did you hear that?" I asked, to our Victors. As soon as I had said it, there was a silver parachute floating down, towards us. It was a loaf of the cranberry bread.

"You see that, you ask for something, they give it to you. I told you that you were their favorite." I joked. He laughed but I could tell it hurt him. I ripped off pieces to feed him.

"It tastes so good." He told me as he swallowed.

"Good," I told him, handing him another piece.

"Tate, eat some." Bryson told me. I shook my head no, this was his, not mine.

"Have a piece," He told me.

"I'm fine, I don't want any." I replied.

"Damnit Tatum, I'm dying and I'm telling you to eat a piece of bread." He commanded. I ripped off a piece and chewed it. He smiled, knowing he had won. When he was eating the last piece I asked him if there was anything else he wanted. I didn't want to cry in front of him, I wanted to try to soothe him, in his final moments.

"I don't think you could give it to me." He said, looking sad.

"What is it? I'll try." I told him, in earnest. Bryson looked at me, his green eyes starting to tear up.

"I want to go home. I want to be at my favorite tree close to the water." He said, choking back tears. His voice cracked. I couldn't help my eyes watering. I saw his tears and couldn't control mine any longer. I couldn't give him that. I couldn't close my eyes, open them, and we'd be at home. He wanted to die at home, not here in this foreign place.

"Oh Bryce, if I could take you home, we'd be there in a heartbeat." I admitted. I wiped the tears off my cheeks and from my eyes. He struggled to reach into his pocket, he didn't ask for my help.

Bryson grabbed my hand and put what he had in it. When I opened my hand, it was an old gold coin. It had worn lettering on it.

"It's an old washer from my main sail." He explained. It was his token. I looked at him.

"I want you to have it. I don't want them to take it." He told me. Tears were running down my cheeks again. He didn't want the Capitol to have it. I understood why. It was a part of 4, it was a part of him, and it was a part of him that they could never have. I nodded my head in understanding. He tried to move.

"What?" I tried to ask what he was doing but my voice broke.

"Help me lay down?" He asked. I nodded and as gently as I could, moved him to the ground. There was just blood everywhere, it was now soaked through the blanket.

"Bryson, you have to hold on. Don't leave me." I told him, holding his good hand, his token still in my left. I pleaded with him.

"Tate," He said. I was on my knees; I leaned to my side so I was hovering over him.

"I have three more things," He said.

"Anything Bryce," I replied. With the back of my hand, I wiped more tears away. I was a little surprised that he wanted three more things, but I meant it, I would do anything for him at this point.

"I want a kiss from the Golden Girl from 4." He said, with a smile on his lips. I laughed, I actually laughed, smiling after he said it. I leaned down and put my lips on his. I sat back up and he was smiling from ear-to-ear.

"Every boy in 4 is jealous of you right now." I joked, building my own ego up.

"No," he said, I looked at him, confused.

"Every man and boy in Panem," He stated. Bryce wasn't joking or being sarcastic, he actually meant it. I smiled. He struggled to take a breath.

"I," He paused. "You," He stopped himself again. My eyebrows knitted together. He was struggling to find the words.

"It's unfair of me to ask."

"Bryce, just say it. I'll try my best." I told him, trying to comfort him. He squeezed my hand and looking into my eyes.

"I need you to do it." There was silence.

Do it? Do what? I took a staggered breath when it hit me. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing could come out. What are you supposed to say? How are you supposed to react to something like this? He was telling me I needed to kill him. It felt like somebody had hit me in the gut. I opened and then closed my mouth half a dozen times.

"I swore that I wouldn't." I told him, tears returning.

"And I swore that I wouldn't kill you either. But you know if our roles were reversed right now, what it would mean." It felt like trees were melting around us. I leaned back on my feet, I shook my head no. My chest heaved up and down; I couldn't seem to catch my breath. I let his words sink in. If I had been tortured and was slowly dying, I would want someone I know to end it, I would want Bryce to do it because he wouldn't torture me anymore and he would make it as painless as he could. Tears streamed down my face. He knew I would do it and make it so it wouldn't hurt; I knew I would want him to do the same thing if it were me lying here. I nodded my head.

"Yes?" He asked, hopeful.

"Yes," I replied. I wanted to stop crying. There was some other noise, somewhere else in this arena. I couldn't even tell you how close or far it was from us. Nothing else mattered right now. I had to get up and walk to calm myself down. I couldn't be a hysterical mess for him. I walked in circles, trying to pull myself together. I used my shirt to wipe off my face once I finally stopped crying, well at least stopped sobbing. I kept shaking my right hand, my left hand still clutching his token. I needed to make it painless for him, which meant it had to be quick.

"Tate," Bryson called out, pained. I pulled out my sharpest knife.

"I'm coming Bryce," I called back. I took a deep breath. I walked over, sat on my knees then fell to my right, so I was leaning on my hip. He searched for my hand. I gave him my left hand, with his token in it still.

"Thank you, for doing thing, and don't say you're sorry. This isn't your fault, don't blame yourself." Bryson, ever the grateful one; he killed me inside. I nodded.

"You had something else you wanted." I deferred.

"Ask me what you've wanted to, since you realized it was me." Bryce said.

"It was them, wasn't it?" I asked, suppressing the rage inside of me. I couldn't even give them enough respect to use their names.

"Just one," He nodded his head weakly. I gripped the knife as hard as I could. I could feel the handle dig into my skin.

"What do you mean, just one?" I asked.

"It was the two of them that tracked me down but Onyx disappeared and Glitter was the one to come after me. I stabbed her in her shoulder, but I think she got the best of me." He admitted. I closed my eyes, as more tears fell. He was trying to be lighthearted as he was dying. I wanted to scream, to kick a tree, to break Glitter's neck, to rip out her spine. I opened my eyes again.

"Give them hell, kill her." He told me. I nodded. It seemed so unnatural to hear him asking me to kill another person. If either of them had suddenly appeared next to us, I don't think I would have hesitated to rip her throat out, but to hear him ask me to kill seemed wrong.

"I'm going to try my best not to make it hurt, okay?" I told him. He squeezed my hand. Tears were in his eyes and mine.

"One last thing?" He asked.

"Yeah, Bryce?" I asked him. I was almost choking not to verbally sob. I looked into his eyes.

"Win this." He said. I nodded my head.

"I'll win this for you, I promise." I cried, tears were falling down my face. I held his hand, tight.

"Think of back home. Remember the sunrise coming up over the water; seeing all the colors, yellow and bright orange mixed with gold and a fiery red. Think of how calm and peaceful it is at that moment. Think when it hits twilight, hearing all the birds calling to one another on the open sea. Hear the waves come crashing in, sitting by your tree." I tried to paint the nicest picture of back home as I could. I leaned down and kissed him again. At the same time I shoved the knife into his chest, where his heart is. I broke the kiss, and took the knife out and dropped it on the ground. The fresh wound, oozed with blood. I could hear him struggle to breath. I never let go of his hand.

"Does it hurt?" I asked my voice cracking. Some of my tears fell on his face. I started to wipe them away, off of him.

"No, I don't feel anything." Bryce replied. I felt his grip on my hand start to weaken. He was dying, fast.

"Give them hell, Ta-" He started to say. He made a strange, gurgling noise and his eyes glossed over. Bryson was dead. I closed his eyes. I audibly sobbed. There was a canon that fired; it shattered my heart into a million pieces. The canon that fired meant he was gone. Bryson was the only person from home I had in here. He was the one person I swore to protect in these Games. Bryson was the one person I promised not to kill. Everything was shattered. I had been the one to kill him. I heard and then saw the hovercraft, above me.

"No," I yelled up at it. They didn't get him. Not like this, not looking like this. I tucked his token in my pocket. I quickly grabbed my pack and got out more cloth and water. I cleaned Bryce off. He shouldn't be covered in dirt and blood, he deserved better. I was sobbing the entire time I was cleaning him off. Once I was done, I realized I should probably check to see if he had any weapons on him. I hadn't realized he had been carrying a trident with him. It was in his belt loop. He had that and the sword. I knelt down one last time, to say goodbye to my friend. I put my left hand on his heart, and my right hand on mine. It was a tradition in 4, to say final goodbyes from your heart, with your heart and their heart connected by your hands. I was crying again. I kissed his forehead and stood up.

"Goodbye Bryson." I said, closing my eyes. I opened them and there was a big, metal hand coming down, to take him away. I wanted to scream and hit it, and yell that it couldn't have them. That _they_ couldn't have him, he was so much better than them, then all of us. I prayed to the sea gods, or whatever there was out there to not let someone kill me for minutes. The world should have stopped. Bryson couldn't die. He was so much better. He didn't kill to be cruel, he just wanted to go back home to his family, just like me. This shouldn't have happened. I gathered all of my stuff up at the edge of the tree. I slid down the tree, with my knees to my chest, sitting where Bryce had and just lost it. After five minutes of crying and screaming, I made myself stop.

I had lost Bryce, but I was still in these Games. I let my legs out in front of me. I looked where he had been lying, where I had killed him. He was gone. That meant there were only six of us left. I had two things left to do: kill Glitter and win these Games, what I had promised Bryson to do. These Games were going to end tonight, and I was going to make it happen.


	23. That's a Promise

***A/N- I haven't forgotten about the story, I promise. I've just had to go through a lot over the last couple of months. Chemo was harder than any of us expected and on top of that I transferred jobs. Needless to say, I've been busy. On the plus side for you, my lovely readers, I have the entire story mapped out and ¾ of the way written, just some fine tuning needed for each chapter. I'm still not completely happy with this chapter but just bare with me. I apologize again for making you wait so long for this! Please review to let me know people are still reading.***

-"That's a Promise"-

I walked away from the devastation that just happened. It was day 6 in this damned place and I needed this Game to end. Six people were left; five people were between me and going home. The flower named girl was cunning and sly. Last time I saw her, I was on the run after killing Gunner. We had run smack into each other but when we made eye contact, I saw that she was just as terrified as I was. We ran in opposite directions. Then, there's Onyx, who, there is no telling where she ended up. If she split from Glitter, would she come after me? Fury. Fury was still out there. Maybe Onyx and him would kill each other, save me the trouble.

_That's awful. You are wishing and actually hoping for two kids to kill each other. KILL each other. _I had to reason that it was them or me. _Stupid sick Games_. Who else was left? Liam! Liam was still here. Sweet, merciful Liam. How had Liam and Bryson gotten separated? Bryce would have told me if Liam had been the one to torture him. Then, there was Glitter. She was a pain in my ass from the very start. I could see this whole Game coming down to the two of us fighting. Wouldn't that be poetic? I bet it would satisfy the Gamekeepers for years.

_Bryson should be here_, I thought. I looked down; my hands were covered in his blood. My heart hurt. Chunks were churning in my belly. I took a step and immediately hunched over and emptied the contents of my stomach. Five minutes later, I had nothing left in me to heave up. I was holding my hair back off my face. I had to keep walking. I walked straight down the mountain and didn't bother to head back towards the cave.

Rage burned through my veins, but I had to be smart about this. I needed to kill Glitter. I wanted to rip her spine out of her body. I need a plan. The Cornucopia. She knew how to survive and she knew how to fight. Hell, it's like it was what she was made for. _You're not weak, Tatum. You know how to fight, you've been trained for this for over half your life_. I had to tell myself. Not only was I trained for this, I was trained by a recent Victor. Gage taught me everything he knew, even to be brutal.

I heard something around me move. I didn't even think about it. I flicked a knife at whatever moved. I heard the knife land with a thud against a tree trunk. I looked over. The knife blade was buried in a Jabberjay. I went over and got the blade but kept walking. How was Glitter going to die? Some form of distraction would be necessary. She would need to be caught in complete surprise. I kept walking.

I stopped at a steam, tested it for water then cleaned myself off as best I could. I still felt the adrenalin running through me. I didn't want to track Glitter down, she was going to come to me. Once I was done at the stream, I worked my way back to our old campsite. I wasn't shocked to see it abandoned but I wasn't going to go strolling up. It wouldn't surprise me if she was watching or monitoring the area. Not just Glitter, anyone else would be smart to be watching this area right now.

I plotted out a good area. I was going to find a solid tree and set out a trap. I began to scout the area. I walked for a while before deciding on my final course of action. I was walking through the woods in the trees when all of a sudden, I was hanging upside down. I grabbed the strongest blade I had with me and cut myself down with one swipe. I landed rather unbecomingly on my rear. I sat up instantly, this was a trap! I saw the spear embedded in the tree. I noticed a swoosh as I was falling, it must have been the spear. I hopped up to my feet, and saw her, coming out of the woods.

"You," I said, surprised. She had a stern look in her eyes; she threw another spear at me. I was surprised that it was the flower named girl. I easily dodged the spear. I went to grab it out of the tree it landed in. She attached me from behind. _Okay, stupid mistake, Tate_. I dropped the spear. It was easy to grab her arms and launch her over my shoulder. She landed with a thud in the grass. I was tackled to the ground from behind. _What the hell?_ I scrambled to flip over on my back.

_You have got to be kidding me!_ Glitter was glaring at me, wide-eyed and crazy. I kicked her off of me and hopped up to my feet. _Crap, it was two-against-one_. _Glitter is enough to deal with by herself and now you have her and apparently crazy, desperate flower girl_. Glitter and I almost tackle one another again with our hand-to-hand combat. She gives me a nice blow to the jaw when I grab her around her neck with my arms. That is the exact moment that flower girl decides to jump on my back. Her weight on my back catches me off guard and makes me topple over, on top of Glitter.

"Stop tackling me!" I yelled, done with these two girls. This was not a playground fight. I grabbed a knife on my leg belt. I slashed at the first person I could. It happened to be Glitter. At first I was terrified then I smiled. She was not pleased. I elbowed flower girl behind me. I heard a crunch. I quickly glanced behind me and saw blood flow from her nose; broken.

The flower was not pleased and attacked first. Her attacking me first, surprised me. She kicked me square in the stomach, causing me to lose my breath. I swung at her, the dagger slashed her cheek. I threw her into a nearby tree.

I heard footsteps coming at me from behind. At the exact right second, as Glitter reached me, I hunched over and then stood up, and launched Glitter over my. She landed awkwardly in the dirt on her side.

"You're going to die soon!" Glitter snarled on the ground.

"You're a cold hearted bitch; they'll put you in the ground before me. And that's a promise." I sneered back at her. She jumped up on her feet. I was once again fighting with the flower girl. She swiped my side with a spear. It was only cutting the skin and nothing deeper. I snapped her spear in half that way I had a knife on a stick and a stick that I could use to defend myself with-slash-attack them with.

I grabbed her by the leg and slammed her to the ground. I took the spear and stabbed her through the jacket.

"Stay down!" I screamed at her, punching her one time for good measure. Glitter was back on her feet.

"What's the matter Golden Girl? You upset about poor little Bruce?" She was taunting me. My eyes immediately narrowed. Even though she expected me to come at her, I knew she was surprised at the shear force I exuded.

"His name is Bryson!" I said punch her continually. She grabbed my fist and twisted it so I winched in pain. I slapped her in the face with my open hand. I jumped up and kicked Glitter, for good measure. I rolled my eyes seeing Flower on her feet again. This time she had the end of the spear I had stuck her in the ground with.

"Seriously, why are you still here? We'll only kill you once we're done with one another." I told her. She slashed at me with the spear. I easily jumped out of the way.

"She's mine!" Glitter yelled. Flower girl got a hold of my hair.

"You're really getting annoying." I started, grabbing her wrist and snapped it sideways, breaking it. She instantly dropped the spearhead. She cried out in pain. I grabbed her by waist.

"If I were you, I'd be half a mile away by now." I warned her. My head snapped backwards and something leathery was wrapped around my neck. I threw Flower in front of me and my hands immediately went to my neck. I looked down, there was leather wrapped around my neck. I looked back, Glitter had a whip.

_How the hell did she get a whip?_ She tugged it again and I was down on the ground. I was trying to unwrap my neck from the whip this crazy girl had wrapped around my neck. Somehow she was directly behind me now. She shoved her legs into my back, creating more pressure around my neck. It was cutting off my air supply. _Uh-oh… this is not good. _

The ground rumbled for about five seconds. I smelled something odd, completely out of place. _ Am I dying? _I started to panic a bit. _My knives!_ My head screamed at me; that and that I needed to get air in my lungs. I grabbed one of the knives from the belt around my leg. I stabbed her in the thigh. She growled… yes, she actually growled at me.

Something was forming in the distance, it was bright. _Oh no, maybe I really am dying_. I blinked then opened my eyes again. I was trying to swipe at Glitter with the knife. There was something definitely coming towards us. I felt Glitter slack on the whip a tiny bit, probably to see what exactly it was hurling at us. I cut the whip and rolled away from her. It was a fireball that hit where we had been sitting; Glitter leaped out of the way, unfortunately.

I took this opportunity to untangle the whip from around my neck and gasp fresh air in my lungs. I wasn't watching Glitter; I was too busy attempting to get the black spots out of my vision.

"You'll pay for that!" I heard Glitter yell. I looked over, Flower looked mischievous and terrified; she must have taken a swipe at Glitter. I inhaled a giant breath.

"Don't think I forgot about you over there Golden Girl." She threatened. _Wonderful._ Another rumble happened. I looked back to where the first fireball came from. Sure enough, there were a couple of them forming in the distance and heading for us. I immediately took off. I heard Glitter yell as she dove out of the way of one of them. I wish it would just fry her already. The three of us were running through the forest, diving and ditching these fireballs chasing us. _This has to be the most ridiculous thing ever_. I thought about it. I glanced to see the other two girls. For whatever reason Glitter has chosen to go after Flower instead of me; I wasn't complaining about it.

I heard a sizzling behind me. I glanced backwards quickly then dove out of the way. I managed to dive onto a hill. While I tried to stop myself from tumbling and catch my balance, I stumbled and fell again, rolling down the hill. My head made contact with something hard. I continued to tumble down the side of the hill and landed with a thud on my stomach; blacked out.


	24. Game Changer

_*Hi, hi, hi! So the rest of the story to the end of the Games is written! I'd like to post one chapter a week (at least that's my goal), so message me or review to remind me if I forget! __thegirlwiththebraid- I swear there is a method to the madness that is going on in this story. __So in this chapter we see Tate battling herself, and a pretty major showdown between two huge contenders. Major twist at the end, also kind of a cliffhanger. Let me know what you think. *_

"Stop and stare, I think I'm moving but I go nowhere. Yeah, I know that everyone gets scared, but I've become what I can't be" –Stop and Stare by One Republic

**Game Changer**

I started to come around. It took me a couple of seconds to blink and get my vision back in check. My head was lying in the dirt. I picked up my head to look around. I was in the forest. _At least your head isn't pounding_. I put my hands on the ground and went to push myself up. My left shoulder had a stabbing pain. I sat up and looked at my shoulder; it was popped out of the socket.

I stood up and as gently and carefully as I could, removed the backpack off my shoulders. I took a deep breath and pushed my shoulder back as hard as I could. I felt the pressure and the pain course through my shoulder, arm and neck as I pushed with my right hand. Now my body parts refused to listen to me; my shoulder wouldn't pop back in. I carefully held it and walked over to the nearest tree.

_Oh, this is going to hurt._ I put my shoulder and the left side of my body on the tree. I also put my hand on my shoulder, that way I could control where my dislocated shoulder would go. _This is going to suck. This is going to suck, a lot_. I took another deep breath and shoved my body into the tree. There was incredible pain followed by an audible POP. I stretched out my shoulder, while the majority of the stabbing pain was gone; there was still an ache left.

I massaged my shoulder as I walked over to the stuff I had left on the ground. Fireballs. There were fireballs coming after us. That's weird considering there were three of us already fighting when they hit. In past years, they used any manmade 'tool' to push tributes together to fight to the death. Glitter, Flower girl and I could have easily just killed each other on our own. That was odd. I grabbed the backpack and slung it on my shoulders and picked up the trident. I had an original plan that I was going to carry out.

I set about to the area surrounding the Cornucopia. Time was going by and night was approaching and that would not be good for me. I needed as much light as possible to set everything up. I was careful to watch my surroundings and paid close attention to any odd sounds I heard on my march.

Finding the location wasn't that big of a problem, it was actually putting my plan into action. It was relatively easy to find branches to shave off and make a mini-catapult. I was lucky that the pack had the wire still in it. I loaded the makeshift bow/catapult with the longest dagger that I had. I grabbed a long stick, stood clear and tested my design. It took a couple of tries before getting it perfect. If all went to plan, the device would launch the dagger at whoever triggered it; right now it was embedding itself into the tree. The problem was trying to stay quiet and not draw attention to myself and the area all while executing this plan.

Once the device was set, I made a trail to make it look like someone had been in the area. So that I wouldn't actually be seen, I climbed half a dozen trees before finding the one I wanted. I eventually chose the one that was two away from the device but positioned myself on a branch so I was at an angle. So much work to make a diversion. Well, it wasn't necessarily a diversion. If someone came at it at the right angle, the dagger would definitely do them in. Technically, I was just the backup plan. Thus, me climbing the tree with a trident and a backpack.

Night had started to fall. This was the biggest downfall to my plan. I couldn't see if anyone was coming. I had to keep myself up. I didn't have any wire to strap myself to the tree. If I fell asleep, I could easily rock to the side and then fall out of the tree. That would not be a good thing, at all. Once it got dark, the anthem started. I forced myself not to watch. It would show Bryson. There were two cannons one for him, and one for someone else. My money would be on Glitter or the Flower. It didn't matter which. It didn't matter who was left. It was time for me to go home, and I'd do anything to go back to 4.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness, quickly. There were the regular animals' calls and sounds from the forest, throughout the night. I had no food to eat so I went without. At one point, I let my head fall against the bark of the tree. I sighed; my head kept going back to Bryce. I had to force myself to stop thinking about him. I needed to go home to my sisters… and my mother.

I wish that I could go back and change the last meeting between the two of us. I told her that she cared more about her abusive boyfriend than her own blood. The sad thing is, I'm not sure I was completely wrong. I picked up the locket around my neck. What were each one of my sisters doing right now? I hoped that Moira was rocking little Eliza in bed, willing her to go to sleep. Lela should be doing homework, her grades needed it. Bianca might be doing the dishes. Viola was most likely out with her friends. More realistically, each of my sisters were probably huddled around the television watching me get banged up, bruised and hatching plans to kill other kids my age.

I miss Gage. I wonder what he's say to me right now. Probably something like, 'get your head in the game'. Would I ever get to be in his arms again? Would I ever get to see any of them again? _Yes, you idiot. Shut up. You are going to win these Games._ Playing this 'what if' game, was not going well for me; and honestly, there was no point to it. I carefully put down the trident and took out my hair from the pigtails they were in. I did one quick, long, fishtail braid and tied it.

Then, I noticed it. About a mile away, there was light from a fire. I could smell the smoke from where I sat in the tree. Who was it? Would it be worth it to sneak over and kill them and come back? It could easily be a trap. I ruled it out. Whoever lit the fire could live unless he/she came my way. I sighed and settled back in.

After what felt like an eternity, dawn came. I stretched out my limbs, the best I could. Then, I heard it. Someone was walking through the forest, close to where my location. I sat up straight. I almost laughed when I saw who was creeping into my trap.

Glitter. Really, it had to be fate. She was disheveled. Maybe the Flower really gave her a good ass-kicking. She had caught onto my false trail and was tracking it carefully. When she triggered the diversion she quickly jumped out of the way of the dagger. It imbedded itself into the tree trunk. She didn't see my attack coming. As soon as the dagger stuck the tree, I launched the trident as hard as I could. The second it left my hand I knew I had perfect aim. I didn't even see her reaction as I carefully hopped down the tree, but I heard her scream. By the time I got down she was pinned to the tree.

"Didn't see that coming did you?" I asked her, I couldn't help myself. She was struggling; the trident was literally pinning her to the tree. This wasn't quite a kill shot, but she'd eventually loose so much blood, she'd lose consciousness and never regain it, without medical help. That didn't keep her from not lashing out. I easily jumped aside. She had her little dagger that she tried to stab me with.

"You're going to get what you deserve!" She spat.

"What? And you're going to give it to me?" I asked. "Not likely with you stuck in that position." I knew what it felt to be pierced by a trident. When I was teaching Lela how to fish with it, she missed the fish and got my foot instead.

"Hurts something bad, doesn't it?" I asked, not to be mean or spiteful.

"You're going to know what pain feels like!" She yelled, pulling out the trident and throwing it to the side. I was impressed that she was able to pull out the trident from the bark and her own body. She was clumsy, and went with her first way to attack me. She had force, but it was a lazy attack. She got me on my back, and I kicked her off. I snatched the trident as I jumped up. This time, I went after her. She was hurt and did something I would never expect. Glitter ran.

It was my turn to chase her. I had her on the run. I followed with the backpack and trident, running through the forest. She stumbled once she hit the sand from the beach. She stood up, desperate and angry at the same time. I threw the backpack to the ground; it was too heavy for me to keep on, especially since my shoulder was still bothering me.

"What did _I_ do to _you_?" I asked her, tackling her to the sand. I elbowed her collarbone. She kneed me in the ribs.

"I'm going to kill you, you evil bitch." She spat, throwing me, by the hair off of her. _What did I do to her, seriously? _The two of us stood up and watched each other.

"_You _call _me_ evil? That's rich." Now I was getting angry. I circled her. Glitter was bleeding, relatively fast from the three puncture wounds from the trident. I had no sympathy. I was the hunter now, and she the prey. Funny how roles change. She charged at me. I made solid contact with her jaw. She kicked my legs out from under me. She was on top of me before I could blink.

"You should have seen the way you're precious Bryce screamed and cried when we found him." She bragged. That triggered the switch in me. I smashed her with my fist, right in the temple. I knew that sent her head spinning. I got up and kicked her. My first kick made solid contact with her ribs. The grabbed my foot the second time and twisted me to the ground. We wrestled and sent blow-after-blow at each other. I couldn't tell you how long this happened for.

"You shouldn't have killed him! He was a person, not some toy for you to play with!" I screamed, standing up, with a firm grip on the trident.

"What did I ever do to you, for you to hate me so much?" I yelled at the girl, wild with rage across from me.

"You took everything from me. Now, I plan on repaying you for it." She said. Glitter grabbed and jerked my hair/head so that I fell on the ground. She grabbed a knife and went to stab me but I rolled away quickly. I kicked her as I got up.

"I didn't take a damn thing from you!" I screamed, trying to slash her with the trident.

"Your lover boy killed my brother." She exclaimed. _Shit. She knew. _

"What are you talking about?" I asked, trying my best to play confused, standing up.

"My brother was supposed to win and your boyfriend blindsided him." _Oh crap. _This girl was trained her entire life to win in these Games. That she always has to win, that she could never fail. That's why she was so upset, her brother had failed. She was currently failing, seeing as how I clearly had the upper hand here.

"Okay, I don't know what you're talking about. Are you talking about Gage? He's is my trainer." I tried to lie my way out of this.

"First my brother, now my district partner. I'm going to kill you then gut you like the fish you catch in 4." She sneered. _Psycho. She was psycho. Wait, district partner? Gunner! _

"I took your plan, didn't I?" It clicked, I realized.

"You were going to seduce Gunner and then, kill him at the end." I said out loud. Everything made sense, she had seen Gage and I and somehow figured it out. How? That was a mystery. Then, her hatred for me only grew when I seduced Gunner. That's why she gave me dirty looked during the chariots and training. She wanted Gunner for herself, but when I caught his attention, there was nothing she could do about it.

"But, I caught his eye during training and you couldn't sway it elsewhere. I carried out your plan and executed it better than you." I stated. I caught the look in her eye. There was a twinge of actual emotion there.

"You liked him!" I exclaimed. Her black eyes were glaring back at me.

"You actually liked him. You liked him but watched as I seduced him. Then, I killed him." There was nothing but malice coming out of me now.

"He was a good kisser, not that you'll ever know. So tell me Glitter, how does it feel to fail?" That was the dagger that clenched it. My comment had set her over the edge. She came after me. I ran as fast as I could away from her.

I had an advantage, I was used to running on sand; she was not. Plus, she was injured. I could easily tire her out and then go in for the kill. The ground began to shake again. So much so, that I stumbled. I looked behind me, expecting to see a fireball coming after the two of us like last time. Glitter was hot on my heels. She glanced back as well. The sand behind us started to drop, as the ground shook harder and an ungodly sound of twisting metal filled the air. Panic spread across her face, after seeing it. There was still a look of determination on her face though. I pumped my legs as hard as I could. The ground was being swallowed up, by a hole. _A sinkhole? _I wasn't outrunning Glitter, now, I was outrunning this hole of death.

I made a diagonal towards the woods, maybe the hole would stop there. Glitter grabbed my shoulder and then fell as the hole swallowed her. It caused me to stumble and fall into the hole. I screamed but managed to catch myself on the edge. Glitter was holding herself up with one hand gripping my shoulder and her other in my hair. I tried shaking my head, to knock her off. Her hand slipped on my shoulder but that meant all her weight was now being held by my hair. She quickly weaved her hands into my braid to keep herself alive.

"Let go of my hair!" I screamed. The pain from her holding onto my hair was excruciating. I glanced down at her and caught a glimpse of something more terrifying. There were steel jaws one after another, after another spinning. Steel and metal were grinding together. Glitter was weighing me down and I was starting to lose my grip. She had such a hard grip on my ponytail it was snapping my neck backwards. I had to make a decision. I grabbed a knife from my belt with my left hand.

With one swipe of my wrist I cut through the air. My hair and Glitter fell into the steel monster. I couldn't help but look. The steal ripped her body apart into tiny, minuscule pieces. My right hand began to slip. I dropped the knife into the steal and tried to grab the edge with my left hand. I couldn't reach it. Sweat from my hand was making it slip even more. I screamed out for help. I tried, once again, to grab the edge with my other hand. I screamed as my hand slid off the edge. I closed my eyes tight. I felt myself falling. I screamed.

Then, I abruptly stopped. I opened my eyes. A hand was grabbing my left one.

"Don't drop me, don't drop me! Pull me up, Pull me up, pull me up!" I screamed.


	25. Run

_***A/N-This is chapter is a little shorter than the last couple ones. Tate's life, starting with the last chapter is about to get all kinds of crazy. Please hit that review button so I know someone is still reading! Enjoy***_

"**And is it worth the wait  
>All this killing time?<br>Are you strong enough to stand?  
>Protecting both your heart and mine?<br>**

**Who is the betrayer?  
>Who's the killer in the crowd?<br>The one who creeps in corridors  
>And doesn't make a sound" <strong>

**-Florence and the Machine "Heavy in Your Arms"**

"Don't drop me, don't drop me! Pull me up, pull me up, pull me up!" I screamed.

I latched onto the hand with everything I had in me. The hand pulled me up and helped me over the edge. As soon as I could see the ground, is scrambled up darted away from the metal hole of death. I finally fell over, near the tree line. I was shaking.

In what seemed like just seconds, Glitter and I were going at it, trying to kill each other. Then, we were running, sprinting away. It was like a manhole opened up and swallowed the land we were running on. I was lucky that I was out in front of her, I was lucky I managed to grab the edge of the hole. Twisty metal hole of death. When Glitter fell it ripped her into a thousand pieces.

I ran my hands through my hair, trying to calm myself. Inside, my heart was pounding away' I wasn't sure that I could get it to settle anytime soon; at least, not after what I had just witnessed. My hair was shorter than it was before. It was just below my shoulder now. I had sacrificed my hair to kill Glitter and to keep myself alive. My brain couldn't even process everything that had just happened to me. I looked up.

Liam!

"Liam!" I jumped up, tackling him as I hugged him.

"Thank you, thank you, for not dropping me." I said, still in shock.

"What the hell was that?" He asked.

"Twisted-killer-steel metal-hole-of-death; it would have killed me if you weren't there." I had lost everything in those minutes. I dropped the trident in the hole. The only weapon I had left, were the knives around my leg.

"You okay?" He asked me. I had to check myself. I had some minor gashes and soon-to-be-bruises but my rumble with Glitter didn't kill me.

"I'm good." I replied, standing up. I looked around for other possible dangers around us.

"How many of us are left?" I asked.

"Four. Fury, Onyx, you and me," Liam stated.

"We could take them out." There was no filter between what my mind thought and what I said. He looked back at me. He was armed with his bow and arrows. I remembered how deadly accurate he was with them in training. I eyed him, unsettled with the possible outcome. _Would Liam kill me right now? Why would he have saved me and kill me now? _My mind raced with questions. We eyed each other awkwardly.

"I'm guessing that if you wanted to kill me, you would have just let me drop in that thing back there. But we could, take them out, we could do it." I said as we started to walk. We walked in silence, teetering back and forth between the sand on the beach and the dirt of the forest.

"Do you have any food?" I asked him as my stomach grumbled.

"I have some bread," He said, flinging is bag down to the ground. The two of sat down and began to eat the half loaf of bread. I practically drooled. I hadn't eaten since Bryce had made me nibble on the bread.

"Why did you and Bryson split up?" I asked bluntly. I couldn't help myself, I needed to know.

"We didn't decide to. There was this fire storm that drove us apart. We were walking by the cave and this giant fireball was heading right for us. They just kept coming, one after another, after another. It was like someone was aiming them directly at us. I dove out of the way, and I ended up going down a hill. I banged up my knee pretty bad on the way down. I couldn't find Bryce again after that." He explained. _Another fireball, how curious._

"Do you know what that explosion was in the field when I took Gunner into the woods?" I asked. It seemed like ages ago, when in reality a couple days had passed.

"Something tripped the explosives that we had the pair from 3 rig. No one died in it but we did find a backpack with some rope and water in it. What happened to you in the woods? Bryce and I tried looking for you." He said.

"Gunner was stronger than I thought," I said, rubbing the skin on my neck. I remembered his hands tightening against my throat, cutting off my air supply.

"I don't know who or what set that explosion in the field off, but it saved me." I explained to him how I had seduced Gunner in the woods but how when I stabbed him, he had been the one to surprise me and turn the tables on me. My ear still wasn't at 100%, with a slight ringing in it and that was just plan irritating, but I wasn't about to tell Liam that.

"Bryce," he said. I stopped.

"It was the girls. Glitter tortured him." I shook my head no. I didn't want talk about it and that was all I was going to say. As the two of us stared at each other there was another cannon fired.

"I wonder who it was." He said out loud.

"That means there are three of us left." I stated the obvious. The two of us stared each other, somewhat suspiciously now. When there were four of us, it was different. Now that there were three, this could be it for one of us. Would he turn on me? Could I turn on Liam who had just saved me? I had my knives, but he had his bow and arrows. I knew that was his weapon of choice.

I was the would that advocated for him, and pushed the Career alliance to accept him. He wasn't from a Career District, but he was in the final 3 now. Then it hit me. _Wow, I'm the last Career left. I'm here in this crazy controlled environment with two non-Careers. _Non-careers that make it to the finals here, typically act out of desperation. _Is Liam going to kill me? Worse yet, can _I _kill him? _

"Are we going to fight now?" He asked me. Liam wanted to know my intentions; just I did with him.

"I say we take down whoever it is that's still left. Who knows, maybe they'll let two of us win this year." I said, trying to be positive. In reality, there was a better chance that President Cromwell would show up in a pink tutu playing a harp.

"That would be pretty cool," He replied as we kept walking. We entered the woods.

"What if we took whoever else is left out and refused to fight each other?" He asked. I smiled.

"You're a genius. We could do this, we could win." I told him, getting excited. We could both be winners of the Games. Liam smiled at me as we walked in silence for a while.

"Wait," he whispered, grabbing me. I stopped. I looked around. I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Do you hear that?" He asked. I listened. Other than the faint ringing in my left ear, I didn't hear anything other than birds talking to each other. I shook my head no. We waited for a couple of minutes before continuing. My heart rate was definitely up, as if waiting in suspense. Yet, I couldn't hear whatever it was Liam was hearing, or thought he was hearing.

"Listen Liam, if something happens," I paused; we were walking through the green trees, full of life.

"When you go to 4, for the Tour, take my token, my locket here. Give it back to my sisters." I showed him the jewelry around my neck. He nodded.

"And if I don't make it out, find a girl named Lizmet Linares. Tell her I love her that I have since the first time we kissed." He looked down as we kept walking.

"I, I just never got to tell her." He admitted.

"I'll tell her," I promised. _Another promise_. I sighed. I at least got to tell Gage that I loved him. I was so thankful for that last night and those last couple of hours we had together. I heard a weird sound. Now, it was my turn to stop Liam. The hair on the back of my neck and my arms stood up straight. I closed my eyes, trying to focus in on the sound. It was a low, guttural sound.

"Something's coming for us." I said while I opened my eyes. He looked confused.

"Don't you hear that?" I asked him. He shook his head no. Was this the thing that he heard before? The sound was getting the tiniest bit louder. Next, the ground started to shake. My head snapped to the west, where the sound was growing louder with each passing second.

"Run!" I said. Liam stared at me.

"Liam run!" I screamed. We ran through the forest. The ground started to shake, as the noise became louder.


	26. I'm Sorry

_***A/N- hello, hello! Since I promised to post once a week, here it is my loyal readers. Next chapter is going to be the last one in the Games. Predictions are welcome, who knows maybe one or some of you will change my mind as to what happens ;-) This is another chapter on the shorter side, but hold on to your hats kids, something wicked this way comes (sorry couldn't resist- former English major thing). I should say, something major/wild this was comes, starting with this chapter. Enjoy! ***_

" If I could find a way to see this straight I'd run away  
>To some fortune that I should have found by now<br>I'm waiting for this cough syrup to come down, come down

Life's too short to even care at all oh  
>I'm coming up now coming up now out of the blue<br>These zombies in the park they're looking for my heart  
>Oh oh oh oh<br>A dark world aches for a splash of the sun oh oh

If I could find a way to see this straight  
>I'd run away<br>To some fortune that I should have found by now." Cough Syrup by Young the Giant

"Liam run!" I screamed. We ran through the forest. The ground started to shake, as the noise became louder.

"Water!" He screamed. We cut down for the beach. I slipped on something and fell, face first into the ground. Liam grabbed my hand and yanked me up. He didn't let go as the two of us continued to run.

"Oh my god," I said, looking behind us. There were giant looking animals chasing us.

"Don't look, just keep running." Liam said, the two of us sprinting. We sprinted out of the woods and onto the beach, like bats out of hell.

_What do we do now?_ The huge things weren't that far behind us. I grabbed one of my knives. I only had four left. Liam had his bow and arrows. We were getting closer to the water's edge.

When the first one was spit out of the forest, Liam's arrow met it, right in the eye. It gave us a better chance to see them. They were massive beasts, far bigger than double the size of any animal I had ever seen. I was frozen where I stood just for a second.

"Mutants," Liam said. They were a cross between a bear and a lion. The one Liam had nailed with the arrow had short brown hair. There was something oddly familiar about it. The three of them charged on us. One was already hurt. It had light colored hair and bright green eyes. It looked to a certain degree, almost human. My dagger was embedded in the mutant's coat. It only growled louder. I backed up into the water, pulling Liam back with me by his shoulder. The mutts were toying with us, playing a game. They weren't charging at us, but slowly seeking their prey, which made things all the more terrifying.

There was a scream. The mutts picked up on it too. The yellow mutt perked its ears up then went running off. That left us with two. Liam sunk another arrow into the black one. The black one was gunning for him, while a short-haired brown one had its sight set on me. The other one charged me and actually knocked me back into the water. I buried the knife in its neck. It yelped in pain but it was relentless. It grabbed hold of my upper thigh on my right leg. I screamed; the pain was excruciating.

"Kill it!" I screamed to Liam. I stabbed it again and again and again. Nothing seemed to work. I felt the long teeth sink into my flesh. I looked in the beast's eyes. It had big, grey eyes. I knew these eyes.

"Gunner," I said. I felt like throwing up. They had recreated Gunner. I looked at the other beast, it was Onyx, black with random flicks of other colors in the coat. I stabbed at the Gunner beast again and ended up kicking it off of me. I stumbled back into the water. When I was up to my shoulders, I realized the mutts wouldn't follow me.

"Liam, get in the water. They won't come in!" I yelled. He was busy fitting Onyx's demon mutant. I ran to him and grabbed his shoulder, punching the beast in the face to get off him.

"Come on, go back in the water, they won't come!" I yelled at him, dragging him back in the water. We were waste deep. The beasts were almost ¾ of the way submerged, you could tell they were uncomfortable.

"Come on Liam!" I screamed; he was still fighting. He was uncomfortable. I grabbed him around his shoulders and started to swim with him backwards, away from them.

"No!" He yelled, elbowing me in the nose. My head snapped back and I instantly saw stars. _No wonder why the boys hate it when I throw elbows! _I held my nose with one hand and opened my eyes, forcing myself to focus. Liam was charging back towards the beach.

"Liam, no! What are you doing?" I screamed.

"They can't swim, come back." I yelled, trying to get to him. He hit Onyx with a dagger but the Gunner eyed mutt latched a hold of him.

"No!" I screamed. I threw my knife. The beast only sneered at me, while grabbing Liam and dragging him back towards the beach.

"Liam, no!" I screamed again. Onyx eyed beast grabbed his shoulder and started to pull. The other one grabbed his legs and started to pull. Liam screamed in pain. They started pull him and rip him apart. _No!_

"Tate shoot! Shoot!" At first I couldn't hear what he was saying. Then I realized what he yelling. The beasts got him to the sand on the beach at this point. I was at least a hundred yards away. I grabbed one of my last knives.

"I'm sorry Liam," I said before launching the knife. At first, I was unsure whether or not it would even make the distance, but as soon as it left my hands I knew it would find its target. With the blink of an eye, Liam was silenced, but that didn't stop the beasts. They pulled him a part limb-by-limb.

I was left wading in the water crying. I wanted to run to my friend that had saved me, to stop the cruel lab experiment animals and to save him. I was shaking and crying in the water. After the beasts were satisfied with their destruction they ran into the woods and disappeared. I looked all around me; paranoid of what was going to happen next. I was all alone.

I cautiously swam up to the patch of sand. There was a trail of dark red sticking to the sand where the beasts had pulled Liam out. Looking around, I knew this was one of those things you could never forget. You could never un-see what I was looking at. Blood was everywhere; not only blood, but an assortment of random body bits and pieces. I'm not sure why, but my legs were carrying me through the devastation. There were two bows on the ground, blooded, from the mutations. _At least Liam went out fighting_. There was a piece of something (that I'm honestly not sure that I wanted to know what it was) and I immediately turned and walked a different direction. Then, I ran into a clump of hair. Judging by the color, it was Liam's.

I felt my stomach start to turn. I tried a different direction. I saw something on the ground that caught my eye that wasn't some piece of human remains. It was a pin. I bent down to study it. It was Liam's token. I took it and slid it in the pocket of my pants. Then, I caught sight, about a foot away from where I was, of a raw muscle with skin on it. I stood up and tried to run away, as fast as I could. I made it to the tree line before throwing up.

It felt like I would never stop vomiting. There was no way I could have that much in my system, but still it kept coming up. At some point I had started to cry during all of this. When I thought I couldn't have anything possible left, just out of sheer stupidity, I looked back towards the beach where my friend and ally was ripped apart. Just seeing the blood mixed with sand again sent me back to dry heaving. I couldn't see anything with the tears the stung my eyes and all I could hear was the sound of my heart pounding as if I was going to throw that up too. There I was on the shoreline crying and dry heaving.


	27. Boom of a Canon

"**Boom of a Canon"**

*******A/N- Here it is. The last chapter of Tatum's Hunger Games. I really hope you enjoy it, please review and let me know what you thought. Just because the Games are over, doesn't mean the story ends. I will be updating again shortly. And again, thank you so much for reading!**

_Did I disappoint you, or let you down?  
>Should I be feeling guilty, or let the judges frown?<br>Because I saw the end before we'd begun  
>Yes I saw you were blinded, and I knew I had won.<br>_

"_Goodbye My Lover," James Blunt_

It took me a while to try to pull myself together. Once I was somewhat composed, I started walking towards the decimated field. There was no rhyme or reason in me going there; I knew I just couldn't stay at the beach any longer. I was horrified at what I had just witnessed. The images flashed through my head, I couldn't focus on anything else.

"Look what washed up on the beach." I heard. My head snapped up from looking at the ground. _Oh crap. _

"You," I said. I looked around us.

"Just the two of us now," He said and it was. There was no one else.

Fury was bigger than what I had remembered. However, he was injured. I recognized the bite mark from the mutants. His side had gotten bit.

"How'd you escape them?" I asked.

"They can't climb trees." He answered.

"Couldn't swim either," I added. We eyed each other up.

Fury was still strong, it didn't even really seem like his bite was impacting him at all. My thigh was brutal, my ear was bothering me again, and I'm relatively sure Liam broke my nose. Fury stood at least a foot taller than me. He must have been taller than Gage too. His eyes showed how determined he was. He was holding a scythe with a short handle. _Where on earth did he get that?_ An evil smile spread on his face._ Man, he's confident. What a cocky little… oh no_. I knew why he was so confident. I had one knife left, attached to the outer part of the belt on my right left.

Okay, so he had a little bit of an advantage weapon wise. There was the voice in the back of my head. _Don't count yourself out Tatum Starlight! You were born and raised for this. _Gage's voice rang through my head, "Every time I think I should count you out, you pull through". Damien's came next, "You think well on your feet." I could do this. "Be ruthless. You were trained for this. You know what you need to do. Be a shark." Gage told me that in our last conversation. I was going to be a shark.

"You're the last Career." Fury told me. "Thanks for taking the rest of them out. You made my job a lot easier." Had I killed the rest of my alliance? The boy from 3, Gunner, Bryson, Glitter, Liam had just died. Four of them had died by my hand. If you count Liam, that's five. Our alliance was originally nine people, eight besides me. I had killed half of the group.

"Since I killed them, what makes you think that you can beat me?" I challenged him.

"You're tired, weaker than what you were at the start, and you've gotten slow." His rebuttal made me laugh. I jabbed him in the jaw with my fist and then did a back-handspring as he swiped at me. I kicked him with my right leg, while in the air. As I landed and straightened myself out, I couldn't help it.

"Still think I'm slow?" I asked with a smirk. He launched himself at me before thinking it out. He went for my legs. I dropkicked him in the chest, got up and kicked away his weapon. I held up my fists, ready for his next attack. He knocked my legs out from under me and while I was on my back he grabbed the scythe and hammered it down. Luckily, I rolled out of the way.

"You're partner Bryson wasn't as fast as you." Fury stated. _Uh, what?_

"What?" I asked, confused. He grabbed my neck and swung me into a tree. I slashed at him with the knife; it hit his arm.

"I killed your district partner. He screamed as I sliced him open." _He's blatantly lying_, _Tate._ I told myself. But why?

"Funny that you should say that," I said, jumping up on my feet.

"Why?" Fury asked. He swung at them; I easily jumped over his weapon. I kicked his blade away from him. Fury grabbed my ankle and twisted it so I fell. I landed on my stomach.

"Because you didn't kill him," I paused. We each jumped up.

"I did." I stated.

He swung at me with his left, I dodged. When he tried to punch me with his right hand, I grabbed it, planted my foot on his hip, jumped up, wrapped my legs around his neck, and twisted my entire body around, causing him to flip to the ground. Fury was all kinds of stunned and confused. I grabbed my dagger and took a swing at him.

The blade had cut his shoulder, pretty badly. I stood back, trying to survey the damage I had done. That's when I realized, he had managed to cut me. I looked down and there was a gash on my lower left ab. It didn't hurt, but stung a little. There was something out in the distance that caught my eye. It was tiny but it was moving.

Fury had taken advantage of me not paying attention one hundred percent of the time. He tackled me to the ground and we struggled to fight one another. I got his weapon away from him and threw it away from us. However, he managed to wrestle the knife away from me as well. He head bunted me, which made my head get fuzzy. The thing in the distance was coming closer. It was a parachute. How absurd. He kicked me in the face, which made sent my head spinning. I rolled to my left side. I was seeing three of everything and it was all swaying. I heard his footsteps on the dirt. I rolled over at the perfect time to avoid his scythe. I grabbed the other side of his weapon and tried to wrestle it away from him.

I kicked him in his family jewels. Hey, there were no curtsies when fighting for your life. He doubled over as I cautiously stood up with the help of the tree behind me. I was praying that things would stop spinning. The moving object was a parachute; how absurd! He slammed me in my shoulder; he had hit from the side so I couldn't see him coming. I elbowed spun around and slammed my fist into his temple. If my head was spinning, his was going to be as well.

Judging by his quick turn around and how swiftly he picked up this weapon again and swung at me, I realized I hadn't done as much damage to him as I would have liked. I dodged his swing and jabbed at him. My eyes were ringing, head was spinning, my entire body was sore. He kicked me square in my chest and I went sprawling back to the ground. I cut his leg as deeply as I could as I scurried in between his legs. I kicked him in the butt and send him sprawling to the ground. The parachute was getting closer.

"Get off of me!" I said, using my entire body strength to push him off. I jumped up but he stood between me and my weapon. I had to be careful, he still had a weapon, and judging by my own blood on it, he knew how to use it, while I only had a tiny knife. Our hand-to-hand battle resumed. He went for a punch, I blocked it; I tried to throw a right hook, blocked. As much as I had the upper-hand when we first started to fight, Fury was starting to really pound it out. Fury punched, kicked and tried his best to pierce me with his weapon. I was losing ground, fast. I was trying to plan out my next move but it seemed that he could read me and countered my moves. I was starting to get desperate, and I think he knew that. _You're fine, you're fine. Don't go for the obvious strike. Tate, take your time, you can tire him out. You're fine._ I kept repeating to myself.

The parachute! It caught my eye and I made an audible sound of amazement and relief. It was a trident! My heart could not have filled with any more hope; if it could burst from happiness, it would have. It was a trident. Home and Damien had come through for me. If I could just reach it, I knew I could kill Fury and win. I was tackled to the ground. _No! I'm so close to it!_ I was filled with a new hope.

"I'm going home." I stated.

"Oh, no you're not," Fury stated. He grabbed me by my hair, I thought I had more room but forgot that my hair was shorter now. I slashed him with the only knife I had left. He swiped at my throat with the giant blade of the scythe. I caught the handle of it and we wrestled for it.

"I'm going home, I'm the winner of these Games." He declared.

I head bunted him and it sent him stumbling backwards. This was my chance. It was a slim margin but I ran for the trident. The grey parachute was nearly on the ground. I shot out and grabbed the trident. Only, it wasn't there. I tried continuously to grip my hands around the shaft of it, it wasn't there. My mind was racing, my pulse and breathing shot up. I looked at the hologram in front of me.

"NO!" I screamed out in frustration. It was a lie! There was no trident! I was still trying to make sense out of it when I heard the crunch of leaves behind me. I turned quickly and tried to brace myself for his next move but I didn't react fast enough. A moan escaped my lips as I felt pain from my side. Fury's eyes lit up. His smile showed his desperation and relief. I looked down. He had cut me so badly, right below his other slash in my lower, left abdomen I could see my skin flap. More than that, my own entrails had started to seep their way out.

"I'm going home." I heard him say faintly. I heard him throw his weapon on the ground. My eyes widened, panicking. I immediately tried to shove in my own guts. I held it with my left hand. It must have been Fury's District 10 that had sent a hologram trident, to distract me so he could make his final move. There was no way I was going to make it out of this arena. I was going to die here, in these stupid Games away from everyone I loved and cared about. I cried out a sob. My mouth filled with a metal taste; most likely my own blood.

"I'm this year's Victor." He said, boastfully staring at me. My breathing was becoming staggered and uneven. Pain was shooting everywhere in my body. My left leg was going numb. I stood there holding my wound; blood was starting to pour out of it. Hearing the tone of his voice how he said he was going to be victor ignited something in me. I still had the knife in a tight grip in my right hand.

If I can't go home, why should he? It's not like he'll go back to his old life anyways. Gage said that's the biggest misconception about the Games that you think you could just flip a switch and go back to the old you; it didn't happen. He looked so smug standing there watching me literally try to keep my own organs inside my body. _If I'm not going back to my home, why should he get to? _

"There will be no Victor." I stated irately and lunged at him.

Fury never even realized what happened before I delivered the final blow. I had stabbed him with my knife. I had stuck him right in the jugular. There was a spray of blood on my face as I had cut the vein. He stared at me horrified; it was a kill shot.

I pulled out the knife and even more blood poured out of him. I knew Fury would be dead in less than two minutes; I didn't know if I had that long. I was losing strength fast. I fell to my knees as I watched him stumble backwards. I was starting to shake, this was not good. I leaned back to my right and slowly leaned to my right then rolled slightly onto my back. I was still frantically trying to hold in my body parts.

_I am Tatum Starlight. I'm seventeen years old. I have five sisters and a mother. I thought I could win these Games, but that's not going to happen. I'm going to die here, alone. I'm going to die away from my home and my sisters and everything that I love. _

I was slipping away. The pain wasn't getting worse, but quite the opposite. I was losing feeling of my body; the pain was going away. My breathing was becoming shallow.

_Mom, Moira, Viola, Lela, Bianca, Eliza, Gage. Mom, Moira, Viola, Lela, Bianca, Eliza, Gage. _These were the people I cared about most. _This is the end._

_I'm so sorry I let all of you down. Mom… Lela… Viola… Bianca… Eliza, oh little Eliza… _Almost all the pain was gone. I felt my body relaxing. _Moira, I broke my pink-sister-promise, please don't hate me for it…_ I took a breath _Gage…_ shut my eyes and exhaled.

There was a boom from a canon.


	28. Make a Decision

*A/N- I have to say thank you to everyone/anyone that has read my little story on here. I sincerely thank each of you and am over the moon, anyone would want to read it. I apologize for the major hiatus, I've had serious issues happen over the last couple months that has put a serious damper on my writing. I did not feel that anything I was typing was worthwhile, but now I am trying to get back on track. While I'm positive, some of you have been waiting for this chapter, a lot of exciting things are about to happen with this story. Again, I apologize for the delay; life has a way of making you change your plans. Thanks for reading- hit that review button!*

When I open my eyes, I realize I am on the floor. All I see is white. I blink a couple of times and then the world comes into focus. I sat up and pushed myself off the ground, disoriented. I'm not on a man-made floor; I'm on a dirt path. When I brush the dirt off of myself, I finally take a look around. There are trees, heavy with leaves surround me and I can hear water hitting against something. This place feels familiar, but I don't know where I am. I can't quite place it.

_What is going on?_ I hear someone singing, further in the woods. I look down and I'm completely fine; no bruises, swelling, cuts, blood or anything broken. There are no weapons close to me, so if someone or something comes at me, I am completely defenseless. I cautiously take a couple of steps towards the voice that I hear. I look down and check my stomach again; not believing that I am truly alright. I'm not sure why but I don't feel threatened here. Even though I don't feel like anything is going to come after me, I am still apprehensive.

I walk about fifty yards before something clicks, I do know that voice! I begin to run down a small path through the woods and down a slight hill. When I get to the clearing in the trees, I stop dead in my tracks. There is someone, squatting down, with their back towards me, messing with something that I can't see.

"Dad!" My voice cracks as I scream. He stands up and turns around. I can't breathe for a minute.

"Tatum," He says, as a smile spreads across his entire face.

"Daddy," I said breaking into a sprint. He warps his arms around me as I jump into them.

"It's you, it's really you." Is all I can say. I'm crying as he puts me back on my feet. He wipes away my tears and smiles again.

"Sweetie," He says.

"It's really you." I am in disbelief. He even smells how I remembered him. Now when I look around, everything makes sense. Dad would bring Moira and I down here, to this place when we were little. We always called it our secret swimming hole. Moira and I would play and swim in the water all day until dad would drag us out. Sometimes we'd take the small kayak out and go on the water for hours. It was at this spot where dad taught us both how to fish and where he taught me how to use a trident.

Dad put the hair in my eyes behind my ear.

"I've missed you so much, daddy." I admitted.

"I've missed you too Tay," he replied. I followed him as he started to walk along where the river met the dirt.

"I'm so proud of you, of everything that you've done." He told me.

"You've been watching?" I asked, curious. He nodded his head. I always remembered him as being tall, but he was about ten inches taller than me now. I had his golden blond hair and his eyes too. People always said that I looked more like dad than mom. Moira looked more like mom.

"I tried so hard to take care of them." I said, referring to my sisters and my mom.

"Mom," I started.

"Mommy should have taken care of you, not the other way around. She was sick Tay," He replied. I had forgotten that he called me Tay.

"You did a good thing by taking care of your sisters and mommy. You shouldn't have had to been put in that situation but you did good, Tay. You did good, kid. " He pulled a piece of my hair. I watched a twig swim down the river. We sat on a log. I looked down at the ground then again at him.

"Am I dead?" It came out barely as a whisper. He made a noise that meant that he couldn't hear.

"Am I dead? Did I die?" Dad just looked at me.

"Everything's so peaceful here, and well, you're here. I'm dead, right? I died in the Games?" I asked. He opened his mouth to speak but everything around me started to shake. Everything went white.

I opened my eyes and everything was white all around me. I blinked twice. I wasn't in the secret swim hole anymore, I was on a table with people surrounding me on all sides. I looked down at what they were poking at, I had blood everywhere. I was at some kind of hospital.

I blinked again and was back. No pain, everything was peaceful and I was sitting on the log next to my dad.

"Dad?" I said, terrified at what just happened.

"You have a choice to make, Tay." He told me. I looked at him.

"If you want to stay here, you can." Dad made it sound so simple. There was no pain here, I was with dad again and one of my favorite places.

"What about mom and the girls?"

"That's your choice." He said. I had him back, I had my dad back.

"And if I go back, I won't see you again?" I asked.

"Right." He paused.

"Tate, if you go back, I'll tell you right now, it won't be easy."

Everything began to shake again.

I was back in the hospital. They had a blue tent thing set up and were screwing around with my stomach.

_No! No, I want my dad. I want to go back! _ I grabbed the tubes and needles out of my arms. I sat up and tried to ignore the excruciating pain. Someone in all white came towards me to restrain me; I punch him/her in the face. _Stop! _I tried to scream.

I couldn't find my voice. _Stop it! I want to go back! _I kicked a person away. There was a man approaching me in all white, like the others. I held my stomach which hurt so badly, I was about to throw up. I went to punch this guy but he blocked my punch, easily. _Get away from me!_ He grabbed my arm and shoved me back down. _No!_ Another ran shoved a needle into my arm. _Just let me go. Let me die, I don't want to live. _I was losing fight and power fast. I made a noise as I lost consciousness again.

I opened my eyes.

"Dad," I said. He was right next to me.

"What's happening?" I asked, terrified.

"You need to make your decision, Tate."

"I don't want to leave you." I admitted.

"Then stay here,"

"Will they be okay?"

"I don't know. I can't tell you the future." I could do it. I could just give up and stay here. I would be giving up more than just my sisters and mom.

"Gage,"

"He's a good guy Tatum."

"If I choose, to go back, I'll never see you again." I said. A familiar smile crept over his face.

"You already made your choice." He stood up and I did the same.

"Tatum, I'm proud of you, remember that. I'll always watch over you. I love you."

"I don't want to leave you." I was crying again.

I open my eyes. I am staring up at a white ceiling. I feel groggy and weighed down. I sat up but something was stopping me. There is a strap across my chest, holding me down to the bed I am on. I try to move my arms to take off the strap across my chest but am stopped again. There is another strap holding my arms down.

_Where am I? Why am I strapped down? What is going on?_

I panic for a second but relax when Damien catches my eye, in the corner of the room. Our eyes locked for a second. I couldn't read his eyes, nor did I really care._ I'm in a hospital. _

I lie back down on the bed, sigh and turn my head to the left.

_I am here. I am alive. _I sigh again. A tear runs down my cheek. _No more dad. No more secret swimming hole._ I try not to sigh because taking deep breaths hurts.

"Get this off me," I said. My voice was hoarse and seems unfamiliar.

_I am here. I am alive. _ I repeat to myself. I want to be happy, Damien is here for me. I will go back home. _I am going to go home!_

Damien is hovering over me. I try not to look at him, but there is an overwhelming feeling that has come over me. I can't seem to figure out what emotion it is, but I am feeling overwhelmed by something.

"Take this off me." I beg him, quietly. I blink and look up at him. The look he gives me makes me disheartened. There is fear and anxiety in his eyes. Shouldn't he look happy that I'm back? That I'm alive? He opens his mouth to speak but closes it again and looks away. There is a pain in my chest. It is right now that I realize, I am strapped to this bed, like a wild creature. I can't do anything on my own free will. I need these straps off me, immediately. My breathing increases and my chest tightens. I try to take a deep breath, but I can't seem to find it.

"Damien, get this off me." I am verging on panic. I am begging him to help me at this point. There is a beeping going on, that I'm assuming is a heart monitor. I want it off; I want it all off me, this second. Damien moves out of the room, quickly, hopefully to get someone to remove my shackles.

I can't breathe, I feel like the walls are starting to close in on me. Two people in white come in the room followed by Damien.

"Get them off, please get them off. I can't breathe." I'm actually cold but my skin feels like its on fire, I've broken into a sweat.

"Get these straps off," I can't do anything other than to beg them.

"Tatum, just take a deep breath, you'll be fine. Relax," says the guy with dark, sloppy long hair. I instantly hate him. _Don't tell me to relax when I can't breathe!_

"I can't breathe." I choked out. I try to reach out but I can't move.

"I'm going to give you something to relax and help you breath. Just try to focus on breathing right now." The guy with lighter colored hair told me. He got a needle, filled with something. _No! I don't want a needle, I need to breathe! I need these straps off of me! _He plunges the needle into my skin before I can object. Even though it freaks me out, it only takes seconds for the liquid to help me calm down.

"Get them off, _please_." I say desperately, one more time. I can feel myself getting drowsy. I close my eyes and try to do exactly what the guy has told me to do, breathe. My shaking eventually stops and then I feel the binds across me, lighten. I open my eyes, and realize they are lifted.

"Stay down until your heart rate returns to normal." Light hair guy tells me. Seeing how he just took the straps off me I'd gladly do anything he tells me to. Dark hair dude does not look thrilled. It takes another three minutes for my breathing and heart rate to go down enough to the point where they let me sit up. They adjust the hospital bed so I am lying at the smallest bit of an angle.

"We'll leave you alone, but if you need us, hit this button here." The nice one says before they leave.

Damien is back in his original spot, in the chair. He is staring at me, analyzing the situation. I can tell he doesn't know which way to play it. He wasn't sure what to do or what to say. The silence between us filled the room. There was so much to say, but how could you put it into words? It took another seven minutes of thinking before, he said something.

"You're alive." Damien finally broke the silence.

"Yeah," I replied. My voice didn't sound like my own. It sounded rough and ragged.


	29. Trying to Make Sense of Everything

*A/N- 29- Holy crow, how did I write twenty-nine chapters? How many people are even reading this? Thank you, so much; if there is anyone out there that has stayed with me and this story since the beginning, I'm eternally grateful! Tate's back and before she's able to start really putting back all the pieces, she needs to make sense of everything. Lots of up and downs in this chapter, it may read really choppy. It is on purpose. Try to realize everything that she now has to deal with, her life is going to jump around for a while. Yes, she is overwhelmed, and that will come out in the next couple of chapters. I will have some new characters start to emerge that need names- review or private message me if you want to help name/create these characters. Love you all! Reviews are much appreciated. –xoxo*

Chapter 29- Trying to Make Sense of Everything

I turned my head and looking at the wall, a silent tear falling down my cheek. I didn't have the energy to pick up my hand and wipe it away.

"Tate, do you remember going in and out of consciousness when you were pulled out of the Arena?" Damien asked me. _Yes._ I didn't answer. I could hear him walk closer to me.

"Do you remember pulling all of the wires out of you and fighting against the doctors?" He asked. _Yes. _I wouldn't answer.

"Something tells me that you _do_ remember." He paused. I felt the salty tears hit my lips.

"I'm hoping that's not the case. Or if it is that you were fighting because you thought you were still in the Games." He stated. Damien leaned in, close.

"It'd be dangerous if you were conscious at that time and knew what you were doing; trying to fight them." I knew only I could hear him, in that low voice he was using. He was issuing me a warning. I looked up at him, desperately. His eyes said it all. He knew. He knew that I was fighting the doctors, he knew I wasn't fighting to live, but instead fighting to die. I opened my mouth to speak, with my eyes wide.

"Shh," He said, stopping me.

"Trust me, I know." He continued. He leaned down and hugged me; surprising me. I wanted to pick up my arms and put my arms around him, but I couldn't.

"Don't say anything; I understand." He whispered in my ear. Damien stood back up; suddenly, very much like himself again.

"The doctor you punched is okay, if you were wondering." _Very_ much like himself again. I fell out of consciousness again; slipping in and out of it over the next few days. Of which, I remember very little, except two very distinct conversations being had in my room.

The first one I couldn't move or open my eyes; it was as if I was paralyzed.

"Where are her restraints? Who took them off?" I hadn't heard the voice before. My guess was that it was a doctor.

"Don't worry about the restraints." Damien replied.

"It was you who took them off, wasn't it? We had those on her, for her own good." He stated.

"For _her_ own good? Doc, don't lie to yourself, let alone us. You are afraid of her, and that's why you strapped her down to a bed." _It was Gage!_ My heart and head screamed. _Open your eyes, girl! _I struggled but couldn't do it.

"Don't worry about her restraints not being on. She's not even conscious. We will take full responsibility if she wakes up and suddenly goes on a violent rampage." Damien stated.

"I won't have it." _I hope he's the doctor I punched_.

"Doc, she's like a wild animal right now. Being here, it's like she's locked in a cage. Have you ever seen a wild animal in a cage before?" He paused. "Right now, you're poking and prodding that wild animal. When you do that, it tends to make them angrier, and grow hostile and resentful towards the one that put them in said cage. So let me ask you Doc, do you want to be the one that lets her out of the cage after putting her there in the first place?" Gage asked. I heard a huff.

"I don't like it." The doctor said before storming out. I blacked out again. The only other conversation was too hazy for me to remember.

After I don't know how many days, I finally opened my eyes. I was staring at a white ceiling tile. I looked down past that to the end of the bed. Then, to my left, I saw a small window with light bleeding in; to my right, was a door. In the corner of the room was Damien, slouching in a chair. I blinked at him, just watching. He looked at me. I blinked a couple more times at him.

"You're awake!" Damien said, jumping up. I had to smile at his reaction.

"I was wondering how long it'd take you to figure it out." I said my throat sore.

"The first full sentence you say after all this, and you're a smartass." He stated.

"Would you have it any other way?" I asked him.

"Not one bit," He broke into a smile.

"Can I sit up?" He nodded and helped me move the bed so I was sitting up.

"Need anything, kid?"

"Water," I said, feeling like I was completely dehydrated. He grabbed a cup and held it out to me. I dropped the cup, in the bed. Damien, quickly grabbed it.

"I'm sorry," I said, not used dropped things. I guess my strength had diminished since I was last really awake.

"Don't apologize." He told me. He held the cup up to my lips and I was able to take a sip. I felt like a child, unable to take care of myself.

"So what's wrong with me?" I asked him.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Damien asked. I shot him a look. "About the Games?" He clarified.

"Fury stabbed me and I was holding my own intestines in my body." I opened my mouth to had, stabbing Fury in his artery but Damien held a hand up.

"Well, there's your problem. Your intestines were falling out. The doctors had to do some major work to get them back in, and to stay in the right spots, I might add." _That would explain the throbbing pain in my stomach._

"Oh, no big deal," I said sarcastically.

"Not just that. Would you like to go over all of your injures that you sustained in the Games? By the way, you are officially the Victor, congratulations." He stated.

"Wonderful." I said monotone, rolling my eyes. "So let's have it,"

"Let's start chronologically, shall we? I've always been a fan of order." He paused for a second. I nodded my head so he's go on.

"You got stabbed in your upper chest at the Cornucopia. You were stabbed with a dagger and almost drowned. Your arm was nearly sliced off. Gunner twisted your ankle and choked you. Glitter choked you. By the way, you should probably stop letting people do that."

"Noted," I told him.

"After your little jaunt with Glitter, you tumbled down a hill and popped your shoulder out of the socket. Then, once you survived the giant sinkhole of death, Liam broke your nose, then, you were fighting the mutts and one sank right into that thigh of yours. _That_ looked like it hurt."

"Oh, then there was that whole thing with Fury and your guts seeping out of your body." _What? How in the world am I not dead right now? _

"You certainly have a way with words." I tell him. I was trying to process everything he said. From what it sounds like, over half of me shouldn't even be functioning right now. He said names of now dead kids, who would kill, who did kill to be in the spot I was, right now. I heard beeping and looked up to one of the many machines I was hooked up to.

"I've overwhelmed you; your heart rate's shot up. If you don't get it back down to the green level you'll have the doctors swarming you in minutes." I took a couple of deep breathes to calm down.

"I would say your biggest problem is that at the end, Fury cut you from side-to-side." He pointed from my left side to my right side. "And that you were holding you insides on the outside, but that's just me." He finished. I rolled my eyes at him.

"I thought that very thing as I was holding my guts, thinking that I was dying."

"There she is, the sarcastic Tatum I know." I smiled. He must be worried about me, if he mentioned my sarcasm and being a smart-ass twice in this short conversation. Which made me wonder- _how bad of a shape am I in right now?_

"Oh, Liam broke your nose with his elbow, kind of like how you did with me and several others on the train. Bet that hurt didn't it?" He asked. I made a face at him.

"Don't think that I didn't feel a little satisfied when I saw tears spring to your eyes after I heard the crunch of your nose. That was payback."

"Yeah, I guess I deserved that." I stated. Liam. I had been trying to save him. Now, he was dead, the mutts had ripped him apart piece-by-piece.

"Hey," I guess I made a face because Damien's voice was soft. I looked up at him.

"It's okay," He stated.

"No, it's not." I replied. He pursed his lips and silence filled the room.

"Where's Gage?" I finally asked; Damien frowned.

"Can I see him?" I asked.

"He's not here right now. He's out on business." I furrowed my brows. Business? He's a fisherman, a Victor. What 'business' does he have here in the Capitol? I was just about to ask, but I saw the look on Damien's face.

"Can I get you anything?: He asked.

"A new body?" I asked, hopefully.

"I should probably go get your doctors." He stated, starting towards the door. I couldn't help myself.

"Aren't you afraid of what may happen once you let the wild animal out of her cage?" I asked. He immediately shut the door that he had opened.

"You weren't awake when that was said." He paused.

"How much else do you remember?" He asked.

"Just that, and…" I paused. "I'm not even entirely sure if it was real or I dreamed it. President Cromwell, and a doctor, I heard a conversation between them." I really couldn't determine if I _had_ made it up or not. Damien left the door and came to my bedside.

"What did they say?" He asked, suddenly so serious.

"I don't really remember much, but I think they were talking about me, something about me cooperating. The only thing that I can definitely remember was Cromwell saying, 'We chose her for a reason, keep her breathing. We have ways of controlling her.' Damien, what does that even mean?" I asked. His eyes grew wide, he looked panicked.

"Damien," I tried to get his attention.

"Damien!" I repeated myself, louder. He looked at me and leaned in close.

"Tatum, tell _no one_ about this."

"Damien, what does it mean?"

"You can't tell _anyone_ about this. Do you understand?"

"What does it-"

"No one. I'll explain when I know more. For now, you can't tell anyone. Got it?" He asked, rather sternly. I nodded.

"I'm going to get your doctors now." He was out of the room before I could ask another question. When Damien came back, he was accompanied by two men in white coats. They asked what I assumed to be pretty standard questions.

When I finally had the chance to ask, I asked them how long I was out for.

"Eight days," The bigger, bald doctor answered.

"Eight days?" I said, horrified and stunned. The two of them explained that there was a minor complication with my original surgery (I knew the complication- me ripping out all of my tubes and needles and trying to die). After that, I fell into a 'slight' coma.

"Slight coma?" I asked.

"We knew you still had brain function, we just didn't know when you would regain consciousness again." Apparently, I had woken up and talked with Damien, when I had the restraints removed on day two. After that, I had a seizure and went into the slight coma for six days.

They decided it would be good to get me up and moving as soon as I possibly could.

"Apparently, it doesn't look good if the Victor isn't up and running as soon as the Games are over." Damien stated. I smirked, the one doctor glared at him, the other scoffed. They ordered that I get up and walk around the floor. It sounded so easy, but when I went to sit up, that proved to be more difficult than I ever imagined. I nearly blacked out from the pain.

"Carefully," Bald doctor said.

"Slowly," The other one told me. With all three of them helping, I finally sat up with my bare legs dangling over the side of the bed. I felt nearly out of breath. My left side was searing with pain. I looked down at my bare legs and realized I was only in a hospital gown.

"Hold it." I stopped them.

"I'm going to need a pair of pants if I'm going anywhere; clothes are necessary." I told them.

"Tatum, we're all doctors and medical personnel here. It's nothing we-"

" ' ." I stressed each word. "If you don't get me clothes, I am perfectly content to stay in this bed, for a long time. For a _very_ long time, days, weeks, possibly a month." I stressed how long I was willing to be uncooperative.

"She is quite stubborn." Damien said; I nodded agreeing.

"Fine," Said bald doctor. He went on search for clothes. He returned a couple minutes later with a pair of black spandex pants. They looked like they'd fit Lela. He came over to me and started to hike up my blue gown.

"What are you doing?" I screeched, slapping away his arms.

"Helping you put on these pants." He stated, obviously.

"Woah, okay, no!"

"You can't do it by yourself." Bald doc said. I felt the red spread over my face. I snatched the pants from him and went to bend down to put the leggings on. It felt like I was splitting in half.

"We can't give you a top to wear because of all of the monitors." The other guy explained.

"I'm good with just the pants." I explained, still fighting to reach the bottom of my legs.

"This is ridiculous, here." The skinny one with glasses said. He grabbed the leggings and put one hole around my ankle.

"Get out!" I screamed at them. I must have startled them because both jumped.

"You need help!" Glasses stated.

"Get out!" I screamed again, this time my voice cracked.

"I'll do it." Damien stated, stepping up. Everyone looked at him.

"Fine," I said softly. The doctors left the room.

"Don't move." Damien told me as he followed the two men out the door. I wanted to cry. I was so frustrated. I couldn't even dress myself!

"Okay, I'm back." Damien said, closing the door. He walked around to where I was.

"I understand the powerlessness that you feel right now, and the humiliation. I've been there, after my Games. I was you." He told me, he grabbed the leggings.

"Are those going to fit?" I asked. He had hit the nail on the head. I had just won the Hunger Games, but couldn't even dress myself.

"They might be big." He said. _How much weight did I lose_?

"Are you going to let me help you?" He asked, kindly. I nodded my head.

"Okay," I put my arms on his shoulders for support. He came over and put my other ankle through the whole.

"Were you in as bad of shape as I am after you won?" I asked. I was leaning on his shoulders, sitting still as he slid the material over my legs. He stopped after the question escaped my lips.

"No," he looked me in the eyes.

"No one has been as bad as you were when you came out. Not in many years, before any of us were born." His eyes told me that he had meant it.

"Tate, I don't mean to scare you, but you deserve to know the severity of how bad you were." I blinked.

"Tate, you died for a minute, for a full sixty seconds your heart stopped before they oculd bring you back." I looked down at the tiled floor. _I died? My heart stopped for a minute?_

"Look at me." He commanded, I looked into his eyes.

"You are strong. You are a survivor Tatum. You pulled through. You survived the Games." He told me. Tears were threatening my eyes. I put my forehead to his and shut my eyes.

"I just want to go home." I told him. He stood up and wrapped his arms around me.

"I know," I hugged him back.

"First you're going to have to walk." He told me.

"It's going to hurt, isn't it?"

"Like a bitch." He laughed. I had to smile. He very carefully lifted me up and helped me stand. He pulled up the leggings and let the gown fall over the pants. I tried to get adjusted to being on my own two feet.

"It feels like my insides are moving." I told him.

"They're probably getting settled." He replied. _Gross, but probably true_.

"What are you thinking?" Damien asked me. I took a deep breath.

"I'm just trying to make sense of everything."


	30. Recovery?

Recovery?

*A/N- I promised you another update soon, I broke the promise. So sorry. I went on vacation with friends then got super sick (that norovirus is nothing to mess with). How will Tate deal with recovery and everything that goes along with being a new Victor? Put your seatbelts on, we're about to find out over the next few chapters. Reviews are appreciated! xoxo

I shuffled my feet and slowly took two tiny steps. I sighed, it hurt._ You can do this; you can do this._ I told myself. Damien was over messing with a bunch of the machines.

"Uh, what are you doing?" I asked. He rolled his eyes at me and continued to screw with the plugs.

"Dude, if I'm hooked up to those machines that probably means I need them for something." I told him.

"We," he paused, yanking out a machine's plug. "Are going for a walk, you need a change of scenery." He wheeled around the machine that kept track of my pulse, heart rate, and the bag with the morphling, all in one. I tried to take a deep breathing, but couldn't. Damien looked at me.

"Oxygen machine. You need to get used to not dealing with it." He stated. This was going to be torture.

"Time to go, start to steppin'." Damien said.

I took a shaky first step, then another, and then another one. After the fifth, only the third out of the room, I had to stop.

"Good," Damien said. It took me thirty more seconds before I could move again.

"Here," He said, grabbing a walker.

"Are you seri-"

"Just shut up and try it. You can't hold onto me the entire time." Damien stated. Reluctantly, I took it. The truth is, walking with the walker helped me, and made it easier. I made it halfway down the hallway, before I started shaking.

"You want to turn around?" He asked me. I looked at him, determined. I was going to make it to the end of the hallway. If I had just won the Hunger Games, surely I could make it down to the end of a hall. I was drenched in my own sweat when I finally stopped. I had done it; I had made it to the end of the hall!

"I'm so tired." I admitted.

"Then, let's turn around." I turned, slowly. My heart fell at how long the hallway was to my room. _Oh god, I can't make it._ My heart was pounding. My thigh felt like it was ripping apart, I felt like I was going to throw up my intestines, and I was completely soaked by my own sweat.

"Damien," I said, completely out of breath.

"Come on Tate," I know he was trying to be encouraging, but I felt like crying. My legs were shaking beneath me. I took a single, wimpy step, for him but knew I couldn't go any further. I stood there, shaking, clinging to the walker. I looked up to him.

"I can't, go, any further." I stated, in between breaths. I was ashamed. He steered me over towards a couple of chairs against the wall. I collapsed in one of them. I hoped he didn't say anything because I couldn't hear anything for a couple minutes, over the sound of my blood pumping through my ears.

Exhaustion began to set in while I was sitting there. I could barely hold up my head.

"What?" I asked, realizing that Damien was talking to me.

"I asked how you were doing." He repeated himself.

"I can't move." I said, in my shame. Damien let me alone for several minutes.

"Can you stand up?" He asked. I put my arms on the chair to push myself up. My ribs and sides cried in protest.

"Nope, no." It flew out of my mouth. I leaned back against the chair. When the wave of nausea came over me, I knew I was done.

"I'll go grab a wheelchair," Damien stated, turning to leave.

"You most certainly will _not_." I shot at him. He stopped in his tracks. Damien knew better.

"You can't stand, let alone walk." He stated. I shook my head, no. It wasn't going to happen.

"You don't want a wheelchair." I shook my head again.

"You are stubborn." He sighed. "I'm going to have to carry you back, aren't I?" He asked. I felt bad, and I couldn't help it but the tiniest smile escaped my lips. I don't know how I had the strength to wrap my arms around Damien's neck, but I did it. He picked me up like a little child, and carried me, plugs, machines and all, back to my room.

Once he put me down on the bed, my head was already beginning to drift off. I didn't even move. The doctors came in and reattached everything. I instantly felt it easier to breath, _thank you God for this oxygen machine_, and I felt them increase the morphling line. I was not mad about a single one of those. I was told to rest by the guys in white before they left.

Damien was standing off to the left of the bed, over by the window. He just stood there, watching me. I opened my mouth.

"Shh," He said, coming over to me.

"Tate, you need to rest." He said, petting my hair. I opened my mouth again.

"Whatever it is, can wait until after you've slept," Damien told me. I looked at his face. He had winkles around his eyes and his forehead, that I didn't remember seeing before. In this moment, he looked so much like a father, or at least a father figure. I smiled at him. _He'd make a good dad,_ I thought before falling asleep.

I fell into a medical induced sleep. I was launched into a snow covered mountain, like back in the Arena but with severe angles and drops on it. I started to wonder around aimlessly, but I couldn't hear a thing. I needed to get out of the snow. I was walking along a path carefull,y when a mutt that looked like a giant dog popped out. I turned back to run the way I had just come and Gunner and Jon were there. This wasn't going to end well.

Everything happened so quickly. Jon's face morphed into a mutt that snarled at me, then he was back to himself. Between the two boys and the mutant, they had cornered me against the mountainside. I tried climbing up, to get away from them but Onyx appeared. She looked over the cliff I was climbing, to the doom awaiting me below and laughed, cruelly. Onyx stepped on my fingers and I let go. I fell down into the awaiting arms of the mutt, and the boys. They began to rip me to shreds. I screamed.

"Tatum, calm down, calm down. It was just a dream, its okay." I heard. I couldn't get my bearings; I had no idea where I was, or why I was in pain. I didn't know who the voice was; I was panting now. Things began to shift into focus; I was in a hospital room. People wearing white, flooded the room. All the people talking just created more noise. The medical people checked all my stats or did whatever it is that they needed to do and then they cleared out. Before they left, they had to explain to me, again, what had happened. I had won the Games. I had extensive damage done to my body. I was in the hospital, and had been for days. I would, eventually, be okay they said.

That voice that told me to calm down ended up belonging to Cordelia. A fresh wave of guilt flooded over me. Bryson.

"You are, you know. You are going to be okay." She said. I looked down at the bed.

"Don't look away from me." Her voice had a command in it, but it was somehow still soft. I looked back at her.

"Tatum, I am not him. I am not Bryson, I was only his mentor." She told me. "What happened in there was terrible, and God-awful to go through, but you know you did the right thing. He would have done the same thing for you. I am not him. I can help you. I will help you through this." It was like something and switched in her. I looked at her; she looked like hell. Her hair was sticking up at several places and she had big bags under her eyes. She looked worn out.

"Okay," I finally told her.

Damien had told me earlier that each Victor goes through recovery. I knew about the potential physical recovery, I didn't realize that I'd be in mental recovery. There was no place to hide from the Games, not even in sleep.


	31. Please Don't Be a Hallucination

_*A/N- Two chapters in one night? That's right! This chapter has been written for a couple months now and I loved writing it, it came surprisingly easy. I cannot wait for you to read what happens in the next chapter of Tate's life. New readers- thanks for taking time to read this, old readers- I love you for sticking with me. Thank you! Enjoy and review. -xoxo_

Well, I was finally out of the hospital, so chalk that one up for a win. It's been fifteen days since the 145th Hunger Games have been over. I've officially been declared the Victor. Tomorrow I'm being crowned and having my post-Games interview with Oscar.

Damien's been watching me like a hawk, ever since I've woken up in the hospital. If he can't be with me, he makes sure another Victor from 4 is with me. At least Damien lets me be me. If I'm angry, he doesn't say anything if I scream and throw something across the room. If I sit in the corner of the room, completely overwhelmed, he doesn't make me move or tell me to 'snap out of it' like Cordelia does. Lionel reminds me of what a grandfather should be. He tries to comfort me and give me soothing words of advice. If only they would sink in, or help in some way. I try to play along like he's given me the best advice in the entire world and it will help me not want to cry one minute and rip out my own hair the next.

The one person that I haven't seen is Gage. I miss him, he's the one person in the entire world that I want to see. I don't know if the rest of them are keeping him from me or they're keeping me from him.

I'm so tired, I am both desperate for sleep and terrified of it. Every time I sleep my dreams hurl me back into the Games and tend not to end happily.

I sigh as I get pushed in the elevator. Today I am going down to the production stage to meet with Oscar and go over what is going to happen tomorrow. I will be crowned the Victor of the 145th Hunger Games by President Cromwell tomorrow morning and then have my interview tomorrow night.

Eloise is fussing over me and all I can muster up is a fake smile for her. She seems like she may actually be worried about me, but I'm not sure because I'm relatively sure she had some kind of Capitol surgery and her face can't really show her emotions. Maybe I can have my Prep Team do that for me. Bravo and everyone else chatter on and on about how exciting it's been since everyone found out I was the one to make it out alive. Calypso chimes in every now and then and observes me out of the corner of her eyes. I think she knows I'm close to breaking.

Everyone is gathered together. Eloise, Lionel, Cordelia, the Prep Team. With everyone moving in a group, I shuffle along. Then suddenly, I'm back on stage with everyone surrounding me. The regular lights are on and not the stage lights. People are talking but I don't hear what they are saying. I do hear Calypso and Bravo arguing what color makeup I should wear, or how I should wear my hair, or what dress would look best on me, but I don't pay attention. I can't help but think about the first time I was on this stage.

Oscar was gearing up to interview us all and they had every tribute line up on stage so they could get a group shot of us. Gunner, Glitter, Leo, Onyx, Jon, Olivia, Bryson, me, the boy and girl, the two from 5, the boy from 6 and the Flower, 7, Liam and his district partner, the pair from 9, Fury and the redheaded girl, the pair from 11 and 12. Twenty-four of us on stage, lined up in fancy outfits, showing off for all of Panem, now I'm the only one left. I should feel proud that I made it, I should be ecstatic that I survived, that I fought my way out of there, and maybe I do to some point, but mostly I feel disappointed in myself; although, I'm not sure why.

Oscar comes out in all his colorful, crazy glory. He kisses both of my cheeks and raves about how amazing I look. I give him a small smile. As the major posse that I've arrived with starts to verve off in different directions, Oscar begins to run through everything that will take place tomorrow. He brought me over to the very chair that he had interviewed me in. He has to lend me his arm for me to even walk the distance. Even though I've gotten so far in my physical recovery, I'm still limited.

"So, are you excited to be the newest Victor for the Games?" He asked in his thrilled tone.

"I guess so," I replied shrugging my shoulders. He looked at me and sighed.

"Tate, I know you've gone through a lot these last couple of days, but where is that giggly, smiling, charming girl that sat here not too long ago?" Oscar asked. I looked at him. Either he had been doing this too long or he was concerned. Odds are he just didn't want someone sitting here giving one word responses to everything he asked. Bryson would have handled this better than me, Liam would have wooed all the girls in the audience, Glitter would brag about how she nearly killed me and did it without a hair falling out of place. I sighed, they were gone. _Tate, you're here, not them._

"She'll be here tomorrow." I assured him, lying through my teeth. He laughed. Oscar worked hard but he eventually brought me out of the shell I had retreated to.

"So we'll banter back and forth for a little bit. I'm going to gush about your fight and victory, because you really went through a lot these Games. You were so brave. I'll ask you some questions, how you were feeling leading up to the Games. I will do my best to showcase you, but you have to give me something to work with Tatum. You know you've caused a hair trend? Everyone is running out to go get a diagonal cut, inspired by you." I merely blinked at him. That may have been the most absurd thing I had ever heard.

"I'll be the Golden Girl from 4 by then; it's just weird being back here right now, without everyone like last time." I admitted. He nodded, sympathetically.

"Sweetheart, you're not the Golden Girl in 4 anymore," Oscar said. I looked at him, trying to figure out what he meant. "You're the Golden Girl of Panem now." He stated. Being here, being Victor made me a type of celebrity in the country.

"Oh, I like that. Let's work that in to our interview tomorrow. Remember that Tatum." He told me. I nodded. I'll give him props; he wasn't bad at what he does.

"Next, we'll roll the footage from the Games. At the start of it, I'll ask you what you were feeling when you went up in the tube. You certainly had an exciting start to the Games, someone tried to kill you before the games 'officially' started. We'll go through some of the most thrilling and exciting times throughout the Games. I'll ask you more questions, how did you all work together in the rather large alliance? Did you have a strategy from the start? When you split from the group, what concerns did you have? Then we'll start to get into the deaths of the other Tributes. We'll watch those and I'll pick your brain about it." _Whoa, no, stop. Stop right there._

"Wait, what?" I asked, confused. I had to watch the other Tributes die? Again?

"We'll watch the Games, mostly highlights of what you went through, but we always show how each Tribute died." He stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"We'll particularly want to focus on the death of your district partner, Bryson. It was one of the most heart-wrenching things I've ever seen." My entire body tensed up when he said his name; I got goose pimples down my arms.

"No." I said standing up. _I completely object. _He looked at me confused.

"Sweetheart, have you not watched the Games before?" He asked, knowing full well that it was a requirement to watch the Games.

"I won't do it. I was there, I had to live it once, that's one too many. I won't sit here and watch myself kill my friend. No, I won't do it!" I started to march away. Damien and Lionel were at my side in a heartbeat. I was just off stage as they were calming me down. I wouldn't budge on this. I didn't want to see myself kill anyone. Jon was a little shit, but if I hadn't have killed him, I would have drowned. Bryson was another thing entirely. I wouldn't watch as I mercy killed him. If they wanted me to watch that, I know they would make me watch Liam get ripped to shreds again.

I was just about to go tell Damien that he could go shove rocks up his ass, when I saw a familiar face walking the hallway. He was here. I turned my head to make sure I was actually seeing him and that my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. He was talking with someone official looking. My mouth fell open a little bit. I couldn't hear what he was saying, and wasn't even trying to read his lips.

_Please don't let this be a hallucination_, I prayed. He looked my way and then back to the guy he had been. He did a double take. This time I know exactly what he said, "Tate". He started walking towards me, quickly. I took two steps and then ran to him. The pain in my torso and stomach didn't matter. He was here.

"Gage," I whispered as I jumped up. Gage caught me and spun me around.

"You're here. You came back to me." He whispered in my ear. "For you always," I whispered in his ear.

"You're real, it really is you." I told him, touching his cheek. _He is really here! _ It felt like my heart grew two sizes in the time since I had seen him. He kissed me. Tears were streaming down my cheeks when we broke apart and he finally set me on the ground. It didn't matter that there was a silence that had fallen over the entire production area, we had each other again, and that was the only thing that mattered.


	32. I'd Take It All

_*A/N- three chapters in about 24 hours? Yup. I've been on a writing-slash-rewriting binge. Heads up, this doesn't contain graphic stuff but there is some fluff. Enjoy! -xoxo_

Gage and I were lying in bed together. Actually, I was lying on my side with my head on his chest and he was playing with my hair. I felt so relaxed with him, and above that, safe.

"I want to go home." I admitted.

"I know minnow." He picked up a strand of my hair and started to twirl it.

"I don't want an apartment here, although yours is wonderful. I'm never coming back here." I stated.

"Never?" He was amused, I could tell by his tone of voice.

"No, I'm going home to 4 and never leaving it again." I stated boldly.

"File that under things you'd love to happen but will never happen." Gage said. I don't want to imagine what it's like for him. He has to relive this year-after-year with new batches of victims. I know it was different for him this year, because it was me. I shifted so that the back of my head was on his chest and I was lying on my back. I would now have to watch the Games and come back every year to watch kids kill each other. I'll just be a bird stuck in the cage that is the Capitol. He continued to play with my hair.

"Since we're on the subject, what would you do if you could?" I asked, pondering life beyond 4, the Capitol and Panem.

"I would marry you tomorrow, if I could." There was no hesitation in his voice. I raised my eyebrows and shifted my head to look at him.

"Yeah?" I asked. His answer had surprised me, and not the bad kind of surprise. It made my heart feel warm.

"Yes." Gage replied and nodded. I could tell from his eyes that he meant it.

"And I would marry you tomorrow if I could." I told him.

"So we get married tomorrow, what else are we doing?" He asked. I moved my head so I was looking at the ceiling.

"Moving back to 4,"

"Where will we live?"

"Not in town, and not in Victor's Village, it gives me the creeps." I paused as he laughed. He knew that I hated Victor's Village. I quite often refused to visit him there.

"Someplace near the water," He added.

"Okay, how about on one of the islands? Utopia is my favorite." I suggested. That was the third island; no one else had been on it as far as we knew, just the two of us.

"I like it; we can build the house." He was encouraging me.

"No one from the Capitol is allowed." I demanded.

"On the island or in the house?"

"Both," I replied quickly. "Not even Prep Teams." That's something I refused budge on.

"Would we have kids?" He asked.

"Of course, at least two."

"Two?" He was surprised at my immediate reaction.

"I want at least two girls. Moira and I were always close when we were growing up." I explain.

"Better make it three. I want a little boy one day." I smiled. I could see him being a great father, so I told him so. I drifted back to sleep.

I woke up to Gage's rhythmic breathing. _He must still be asleep_. I traced invisible figures and designs on his chest.

"That tickles you know," He said, sleepily.

"You've never complained before." Gage smiled. It was just us, lying in a comfortable silence for a while.

"I do love you," Gage told me.

"I know," I replied, smiling. He leaned down and kissed my head. His hands started to wonder down my body. I smiled, knowing where this was going. I was just so over the moon to have him back, to be in his bed. I rolled on top of him and kissed him, playfully. His hands moved own my sides. Gage ran his one hand over my stomach. He traced my scar. I stopped kissed him. I looked at him and he was looking at the scar. I rolled off him and grabbed the sheet, covering myself as I got off the bed. He let me go.

I walked over and across the room and sat in a chair facing the window. How could he possibly love me with all these scars? I was going to lose him, I knew it. Was it even possible to keep him in the first place? Now that we're both Victors we'll both be pulled from home to come here all the time, if we were lucky we'd be able to come together. Then, what about people finding out about us? There were a lot of people that saw our reunion on the stage. We've always had a deal that I don't ask about what happens when he comes here and he doesn't tell me. Could we keep a secret this big from the entire country? It was hard enough to keep it from everyone in 4.

I felt his hands on my shoulders. I closed my eyes. I couldn't lose him.

"Gage," I started. He moves so he's kneeling in front of me now.

"Tate, I mean it when I say I love you. Every single inch, every freckle, every piece of blonde hair, ever scar; now that you happen to have a couple more doesn't mean I'm going to love you any less. It shows how you are willing to fight." I traced the small scar above his right eye he got in his Games.

"I would take all of the pain, all of the nightmares, all of the scars if I could, to make you better." He told me. _God, I love this man._

"I know you would, but you have your own pain, nightmares and scars. These are my burden to bear. All I can ask of you is that you're here for me like I've tried to be there for you." I told him.

"Anything for you, minnow." I rolled my eyes at him. Gage grabbed my hand.

"Tatum Wren, I have been in love with you for years. You are the best person I know."

"Gage what are you doing?" I asked amused.

"Let me finish." He said, popping up so he was on one knee.

"You are the best person I know. You calm me down when I feel like exploding, you make me smile even when I think the world is turning black. Every time I hear your laugh, it makes me smile, even when I'm mad at you, and that's super annoying." I giggled.

"See there, it is." He replied, smiling. He was rubbing my ring finger. _Wait, is he… Is Gage trying to propose to me?_

"When your name got called on Reaping Day," he paused. "I wanted to kidnap you and run away with you. Saying goodbye to you that day, made me sick to my stomach. Watching you go through everything that you had to deal with during the Games was torture; it was killing me not to be there with you. I couldn't protect you while you were in there." I could see his true emotions start to come through.

"But you were Gage," I stopped him. "Your training helped me get through it. Your voice in my head helped me make it through." I told him.

"Tate, I thought I lost you once, I never want to lose you again." He grabbed something off the table behind him, something I hadn't seen. It was a jewelry box.

"This isn't a proposal, so don't freak out. It's a proposal for a proposal. Sometime, hopefully soon, we can do this and shout out from the rooftops how in love we are to everyone. I want to marry you in this life, and every one after this. Will you let me propose to you?" He asked. _So clever!_

"Of course I will. I want you and nobody else." I told him. Gage kissed me, I leaned into him.

"Out of curiosity,"

"What's in the box?" He finished my question. I nodded. He opened it and there was a pair of gorgeous diamond earrings.

"Oh Gage," I told him. They were stunning. This time I kissed him.

"Will you let me love you?" He asked.

"It won't be easy," I told him. I was going to struggle with these newly acquired scars for a while.

"I know, but I've been through it. Let me help you get through it." He told me. I kissed him again. I had a great man. He picked me up out of the chair, still with the sheet around me and carried me back to bed.

"I love you, and I love that you just proposed to propose, but I can't." I stopped him after lying me down in the bed. "It's not that I don't want you, it's that my body cannot handle going another round." I explained it to him.

"I get it. Frankly, I'm amazed you were able to at all." He was being honest. Gage rolled in bed next to me. While I was glad Gage and I had reconnected, I had to say I was a bit uncomfortable. I really went through with it and didn't stop him because I wanted to be a part of him, to feel something again.

"Doesn't mean we can't make out a little," He said, raising his eyebrows.

"You are pretty brilliant." I giggled as we kissed. After we finally untangled ourselves, Gage was holding me, there was a thought that crept into my head nagging at me.

"Gage, there's something that I've been thinking about,"

"That's dangerous," I hit him.

"Damien told me that I've come out of the Arena in the worst shape, with the most stuff wrong with me in decades."

"That's true," he agreed.

"I have two questions. How bad were you? And how bad was Fury? Was he really dead?" I asked. He was silent for a long time, then I felt him sigh. Gage sat up, so I figured I should too.

"That was three questions." I made a face at him.

"Okay, fine. I wasn't that bad. I only spent two days and one night at the hospital. Actually, the night after I gave my interview, I was trying to find a way to forget it all so I started drinking. I drank so much alcohol; I had to go back to the hospital. So, I guess, technically two nights at the hospital." I looked at him; he had never told me that before.

"I'm not proud of it but ever Victor handles their win differently. Some drink, some fall into drugs, some a variety of other assortment." He sounds like he's so much older than what he is.

"And the other questions?" I asked.

"It's complicated." I looked at him waiting for a response.

"I'll answer it later. Right now, I just want to enjoy my time with you because come sunrise, I don't know how much time we'll get. You are going to be on a strict schedule." I wrapped my arms around him.

"I don't want to ever let you go." I whispered to him. I held him for a long time, minutes drifted away.

"Damien said something to me, and I don't think I understand what he meant."

"Okay,"

"He called me a phoenix." Gage looked up at me.

"And you've never heard of that before?" He asked. I shook my head. It was a foreign word to me.

"A phoenix is a type of bird, a mythological bird. It's able to start a new life, rising from the ashes of its predecessor." _Um, what are you talking about Gage?_

"Let's try that again. A phoenix is a bird that burns itself at the end of its life, but then a new bird rises from its ashes." I let the words sink in.

"So he's saying my old life just went up in flames?" I asked.

"But that you," Gage was trying to get me to finish the thought. He hadn't objected to what I had first said. My life before the Games was gone, I was going to have a new life now.

"Are still going to go on and keep fighting." I finished. Gage smirked.

"Are you going to keep fighting?"

"Fighting for what?" I asked.

"Anything, everything." I thought about it.

"It depends on what it is. For my family, for 4, for my friends and people I trust, yes. For you, absolutely." Gage put his arm around my neck and I rested my head on his arm.

"You're my fighter." He kissed my hair.


End file.
